NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

Hellyer was hopping tonight as the NorCal Elite Championships raged under the purple sky and watchful eyes of Hellyer’s resident coyote community.

Women

Hannan Alves-Hyde jumped early in the Keirin and was able to take a convincing win over Beth Newell (Team Bell Lap.)  Newell took her revenge in the both the Scratch and Points race which she won over Alves-Hyde (2nd) and Jane Wolcott (3rd.)

Men

Sam Milroy (LTO) destroyed the competition in the Keirin and skipped out before I could get a video interview.  I do have his finish somewhere on tape so I will get that up before the weekend ends.  Steve Pelaez (Team Bell Lap) took the Scratch race and Rob Evans (AKA Hooptie – he rides for McGuire) was able to cap off the night with a big win in a hard fought and exciting Points race.

Cal Cup

Tomorrow the Cal Cup adventure continues with the fat guy favorite San Ardo Road Race, and the shit really hits the fan in Santa Cruz on Sunday when the University Road Race gets underway.  In the man time I received an awesome comment from Evan Huffman, the dude has future as a writer, giving some details on how Cal Cup is shaping up on the men’s side.  Check it out below…

Patterson Pass was won by Stephen Leece(NOW MS) ahead of Nate Wilson(Cal Giant). The two got away on the second lap and were left out there to fight amongst themselves for the victory. At some point they caught and passed Yury Yurchanka(McGuire) who was part of the early break, but he was able to hang on for third. I attacked out of an elite chase group to take 4th ahead of Keith Hillier and Nate English. English attacked on the 3rd lap, but the headwind on the main climb was too much for him to drag me all the way across to the leaders. Full results: http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2011-1792

Dunnigan Hills RR was won by Collin Samaan out of a 5-rider break that went late on the last lap. I took the sprint for 6th out of a 3-rider chase and LaBerge senior took the field sprint for 9th. It was kind of a hectic finish with the new run-in and we passed a women’s field within the last few K’s. Full results:http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2011-2665

Can’t find official Cal-Cup standings anywhere, but by my calculations it’s Yury Yurchanka with 38 points, me (Evan Huffman) with 37 points, and Nate Wilson with 34 points. Nathan is going back to Colorado to start school on Saturday so won’t factor in to the overall.

Thanks Evan!

Almost back on track after a few weeks on the road.  Cal Cup battles have started picking up… of course this being a slightly more, I need to search for a constructive word here, ‘fungible’ type of contest, which may not adhere to the needs of our Type-A race community, results of races and the overall Cal Cup race are hard to come by.  Here is a go at result and best guess of status.  If anybody has updates on these let me know.

Warnerville TT

Evan Huffman (Cal-Giant) used some of that post Cascade fitness to put the hurt down on the men’s field and take the win.   Huffman seems like he’s on the precipice of a big break going into next year.  Nice to see Justin Rossi (Marco-Pro Strava) taking a run at things after a mid season lull to grab third place from Jame Wingert (love that last name!)  Jane Despas knocked out a win for Yahoo! in the women’s race over comeback story Gina Roberge who takes time off of her Peanut Butter & Co./2012 directing duties to jump into the occasional race.

Patterson Pass

Annie Fulton walked away with a win in the women’s race giving her a strong launching position for a run at the overall.  Look for Fulton to emerge at some of the harder Cal Cup events like Winters RR, University RR, and Challenge RR.  Still tracking down men’s info.

Dunnigan Hills RR

David Benkoski (Specialized Juniors) nabbed second in a sprint finish in this flat and fast road race ensuring him his Cat 1 upgrade.  I am still trying to identify this “Wonderful Pistachio” rider who pipped at the line in this Jane Despas (Yahoo) took the women’s proving that her steady observational style of racing always ends with a cobra strike.  A word of advice to the NorCal women’s peloton… if you have a rider like Despas in your break and she’s not doing any work, then you better get ready to sprint for second.

Suisun Crit

Yukie Nakamura, another member of the NorCal Cycling Twitteratti, has live tweeted a couple of events when she is not “Rand heckling.”  Her live coverage of Suisun was awesome so i highly recommend following her on Twitter  Jane Robertson (Metromint) soloed off the front of the women’s field to beat a hard charging Mary Maroon (Webcor) and Kristin Drumm (Cycles Fanatic.)  The men’s field drew a strong field including the dynamic crit duo of  Rand & Reaney, and local pro’s like eventual winner Andy Jacques Maynes (Bissell), and runner up Daniel Holloway (Kelly Benefit.)

Cal Cup Overall

Where does that leave us?  I expect Velopromo or some other enterprising individual has a better take on overall results but here is my best guess. Jane Despas is most likely in the lead followed by Annie Fulton and Mary Marron.  Lorry Huffman is estimating that her progeny Evan Huffman, has garnered enough points at Dunnigan to keep him in the lead after his TT victory.  Of course it is all hearsay until it’s entered at USA Cycling but they are probably busy running a Grand Fondo in St. Louis or something.  Stay tuned…

 

Ed Note: Since I have been out of the country with minimal connection, updating from my phone with spotty coverage is as close to hell as it can get,  I have combing the web for appropriate content.  One of the NorCal Cycling Twitterati (AKA & ), took a stab since he didn’t like my quick upate and did a commendable job.  Sure… this is late, it took a few days, but some big wigs and legends showed up for the Foothill race , and from all reports it was a fun event.  The boy has a future at NorCal Cycling News should he ever attend another road race or cycling event.

Last weekend marked the return of the Foothill College Circuit Race Race, presented by Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club. And, amazingly, I was there! Race reports aren’t really my thing, but since Norcal Cycling News managed to write a weekend race report purporting to cover this race without actually writing about it (great photo notwithstanding), I will take up the slack. This is the first, and may well be the last time this year I lined up at a road race, let alone ”covered” one (my race coverage is as good as AT&T’s coverage in San Francisco).

Pro/1/2

I actually missed the start of this one because I was out riding singletrack on my road bike and picking blackberries instead of paying attention, but I figured it was an hour-long race and would take a while to settle down.

Start of the Pro/1/2 race

Charlie Avis, presumably in Zone 2 for 45 minutes  (Photo: Garrett Lau)

By the time I got back, the field was circling around, content to let the Charlie Avis (Trek Livestrong U23 Team) have a casual training ride off the front for the better part of the race. I think he pulled off after his workout was done, finishing last (but first Pro, which is pretty PRO, or something like that) and letting the guys with real jobs race. Among them was Bill Lloyd (Six Fifty Racing), whom I mention because I am incredibly biased.

Bill Lloyd shows up to put some hurt on the kiddos.  (Photo: Garrett Lau)

When the pack was together, I took a little bit of time to think of something to heckle Rand Miller (Webcor/Alto Velo) with. Finally, I decided on “No donuts for sitting in!” but the pack came around again, he was off the front. Well, damn. Rand: 1, my attempt at heckling: 0. Twice over the course of his breakaway, lone riders bridged up to him with hopes to “Pull a Reaney,” presumably. But neither was successful in staying with Rand, who dropped each of them handily. I got the feeling that Rand would rather come in last than come in second in this race…

Rand Miller, not pictured

Vs.

An Angry Pro/1/2 field  (Photo: Garrett Lau)

And, well, that’s what happened. The pack caught Rand at the bottom of the climb, and it was game over. William Myers (Fremont Bank Cycling Team), James Mattis (California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized), and Matthew Carinio (again! ArtsCyclery.com/Wild Horse Win) made up the top three in a finish I couldn’t see from my position at the most-sunburn-prone part of the course. It looks from this photo like it was very exciting.

William Myers Wins! Mattis and Cariano close behind. (Photo: Garrett Lau)

Josh Dapice (Audi Cycling Team) was also in the mix in the Pro/1/2 race, although he didn’t have my rear wheel anymore, so he didn’t win. Special mention also goes to Steven Woo (Third Pillar), who seemingly contested every single race (including women’s and juniors), while still taking photos of every race. I don’t know how he does it.

Steven Woo (Third Pillar) smiles, but not as much as May Woo (Sheila Moon, No Relation)

FULL ARTICLE HERE http://slonie.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/foothill-race/

 

Pleasanton produces

Yeah, Pleasanton has about a gazillion bucks rolling around it’s supercashed suburbs … and you can’t quite hate them for throwing down a few fistfulls of it when a criterium like the Fast & Furious sprouts up.

What a race.  What a venue.  What a crappy announcer.

Now, I know I’m all biased n’ sh*t … because I only want announcers who are intimately familiar with riders and focus all their vocabularied-wit an wonder on painting sublime hyperbole of both the action and heroes involved.  But come on … that announcer made my ass itch.

Anyway …

Pleasanton just kicked that criterium three ways to Sunday.   It was a great turnout of spectators, a venue that begged you to visit all the local businesses, and a course that you could scurry around and specatate yourself some hot racing action.

That’s good bike racing.
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VANDERKATS are GO

The story of the night was how dominant the Vanderkitten Racing-Focus Bikes team was … against a strong PB&Co trio and a host of NorCal regulars. From the gun, VK’s Jen Reither was on the accelerator, sending word to the field that the game was most definitely on … and they better get their dice ready to roll.

Peanut Butter & Company got the win the night before at the Strawberry Crown criterium, with Coryn Rivera winning well from a 3-up break.  Pascale Snider, the SwissMiss & reigning Nat’l Road Race & Time Trial Champ, was a powerhouse and drove the break from lap 2.
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STRAWBERRY appetizer

Joining Snider at the Watsonville crit on Saturday were VK’s Jazzy Hurikino, Rivera, and PB&Co’s Hanan Alves-Hyde.  HAH put in a massive bridge a couple laps after the trio formed … and then absolutely slayed herself to build the gap past the 12 seconds it had been hovering.  The effort blew her to smithereens, and Snider knew that striking quick and vicious to drop one of the PB&Co riders was the proper, if prejudiced, tactic.

Back in the pack at Watsonville, there were two riders displaying a ton of courage and ferocity.  Anna Barensfeld would put in accelerations, hard chases, massive pulls … and show that she is one of the best up-and-coming amateurs in America right now.  The other rider was Beth Newell of Fremont Bank … attacking, literally, six thousand times trying to bridge up to the breakaway.  Barensfeld and Newell have been the top amateur riders in stage race after stage race these past months … and both were noticed and applauded by a REAL announcer, Dave Towle, at the Strawberry Crit on Saturday.  Towle is a superb announcer and advocate for women’s racing … and has a fan base around the country that a few of the ‘big race’ promoters just don’t understand.

Anyway – Rivera won the three-up break from Snider and Hurikino at Watsonville … setting up a good battle from the squads for the higher dollar, super pimped out Pleasanton race the next day.
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STARNES the destroyer, but COLLINS the Crusher

The Pleasanton crit was like watching warfare … Red Racing, Metromint, VK, PB&CO, Fremont, and a bunch of individuals were just throwing grenades at each other all night long on a fast, attacker’s course.

The backside of the course was where all the carnage was, as every team would throw down attacks or rally forces to cover & chase moves.  It was a fantastic spot to watch the race.

PB&Co had Alison Starnes, Taylor Wiles, and Olivia Dillon … and each was a battalion of attacks.  Starnes would unleash hell in the final laps, very nearly cracking the defenses of the entire field in the final 2 laps of the race.

But it would be Fremont Bank’s Beth Newell putting the smother over Starnes fire in the final lap, bringing back her solo move … but also perfectly leading out VK’s Emily Collins.

Collins was superb the entire night.  She floated around the front of the peloton as she needed, covered the dangerous moves when her team needed rest, put in just enough speed at the front near the end, and was brilliantly patient in the final laps to let the others chase down a mad-charging Starnes.

Primal Wear’s Liza Rachetto was valiant all race long, lacking teammates like Anna Barensfeld … and would position herself well for the final 500 meters of  a tense, aggressive hour of racing.  Olivia Dillon, Collins, and Rachetto would have a phenomenal battle in the final 200meters … the win could have gone to any of the three … but it was a hungry, deserving Emily Collins who got the big win, securing a hugely successful weekend for the Vanderkitten team.

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ooops … dinner needs to be cooked.  So one last bit – congrats to Rand Miller for almost beating Steve Reaney … again.

And nice work, Benny Sweet-Burg for a kickass sprint at Pleasanton.

boyz … meh.

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The new USA Cycling website is definitely less ugly.  If the huge gold medals on the home page are any indicator, I would say that USA Cycling is trying to secretly gear up for London 2012 Olympic Games.  Seeing as how the only cycling medals the USA has a hope of getting is Sarah Hammer, the Women’s TT,  and an outside shot at the women’s road race, maybe they are trying to signal a big year of investment in women’s cycling?  I won’t hold my breath, but the new site did make it possible for me to dig up some of the weekend results

CCCX

Moreno Dulce (Rouse Bicycles) took a win in the small but strong women’s field that included heavyweights such as Mary Maroon, Jane Despas, and Lauraleen Fenech.  After waking up early and taking on the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb Rand Miller almost tasted glory once again this year but was spoiled by Ethan Atkins (Metromint) proved the spoiler and won his second race in two weeks after taking the top spot at the 2 Wheel Cycling and Early Bird Criterium (ugh – FIX THAT NAME!)

Tour De Nez

I’m not sure what it says about the cycling press when the only good story i find on an NRC Crit is in a Reno newspaper but… The men’s field got SoCal’d by Daniel Ramsey, who broke away and held it for a win, and then Rahsaan Bahati took the field sprint.  I hate SoCal Crit Monkeys, I think we need to start a NorCal Crit Monkey breeding program… Reaney can be the donor…

Anyway… At least NorCal women rock.  Amber (Rais) Pierce took the win over a heavy women’s field in a solo break off the front.  Pierce is slogging it out in Europe with the  Diadora-Pasta Zara-Manhattan squad but returned to her family home in Reno and was able to jump in the race this weekend while visiting relatives.  Aside from my relief that a SoCal rider didn’t school us in the women’s race, it’s great to see Pierce get a big result in front of her home crowd.

Hanan Alves-Hyde (Peanute Butter Co 2012)  busted out her East Bay trackie sprint to teach Peninsula favorites Jane Despas (Yahoo) and Annie Fulton (Metromint) a lesson in how to hustle across the finish line.  Hanan comes on strong late in the year and this might be the beginning of a run for her if she can keep up and beat the likes of Fulton and Despas.    My prediction of a James Mattis (Cal-Giant) victory was spoiled by one of the Fremont Bank young guns, a certain William Myers, who I can honestly say I do not know anything about.  The reason is… he’s a recently upgraded Cat 3.  Sure he had some big Cat 3 wins but he beat a pretty good men’s field, the least of which was former national champion and Webcor pro James Mattis.  Myers will be one to watch.