NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

The women’s race … may have just gotten very, very interesting.

Rumor is that  may be out sick … which basically throws the entire race into a tizzy of ‘wholeyshit, i just might.’

wasn’t registered … but if she doesn’t pony up the hundreds for this race, it’ll be a crime. Higgins is the favorite on paper for the win in this event … as she’s exceptional in the flying lap, 500m, and very, very gritty in her mass starts. But, will she enter?

Last year’s podium rider,  is leaner and meaner this year and working off of 6500ft living for the past couple months. awww yeah, Triplett is hungry for it. She’s a solid flying lap and 500 rider, and can always, ALWAYS dig out a scratch result … the question will be if she can pop off a big PR in the pursuit. She’s hungry for it … but hasn’t specified for it. She’ll have to do it with balls.

My own  has specified for the pursuit and is aiming for a big result in that discipline. Her flying lap could be super smooth, too … so, it’ll likely come down to who’s going to bring the brass tacks to the mass starts in deciding who takes the top steps on the podium. Beth is still developing, and coming off a racing season that started January 1st and hasn’t stopped since … but, she’s ready. Real, real ready.

… this is my favorite up-and-coming rider. She’s a phenomenal tactician and technical rider … able to find wheels and wholes like she was born out of Carney’s womb. She’s put in some good road racing this year, and it’s showing in her form already. Just watching her these last couple days you can see that the engine is bigger, more confident. I very much look forward to seeing if she can crack a strong pursuit … she doesn’t have to be great in the TT … she just has to be strong. Because her 500 is going to be stellar, and her mass starts are going to be shining. I look for Hayduk to better her 5th from last year. Big time.

is coming into speed. Big speed. There’s only a few riders that have the acceleration of Hanan … when she turns the screw, it goes deep and splits wood. But, she’s late this year in building fitness, so it’s going to be a massive test of her toughness to keep her scoring against the big engines massing for this year’s Omnium. Hanan will be on the podium, though.

Lauren Hall – the true darkhorse, but already showed a few cards last weekend at the final pre-Natz race at ADT. She’s wicked tough, super smart, and will absolutely be ready to dish out some pain. This could be the woman who takes the gold if Hammer really is too sick to race. Big darkhorse … like Trojan style. Can’t wait to see this thing shake out.

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!

 

At this stage of the game you really have to go check out Hellyer on a Friday Night.  I went down for the Tuesday training races and ran into Ben Jacque Maynes (Bissell) and Logan Loader (Ride-Clean.)  Hellyer is where these guys go during the week to hang out.  When i asked them where it fit into their racing plans they both gave similar answers which i will paraphrase… “To have fun!”

The sky on last Friday Night was gorgeous and produced one of the most epic shots, I have seen from any track, anywhere.  This week Friday Night is doubling up as NorCal Elite Championships for several of the races.  The keirin, which is one of the few cycling events i refuse to participate in because it is too scary when the really fast guys go, is the race to watch.  The keirin at Hellyer is always my favorite event, after the Kiddie Kilo of course, so it is sure to be a good night for spectators.  The men to watch in the keirin will be Pete Billington and Sam Millroy who have dominated local sprint events the last two years.  Both riders have been able to throw down with the ‘bigger’ boys trying out for the Olympics and been able to sneak in a few surprises here and there.  The SF Messenger crew Alex Farioletti and Fergus Tanaka might have a few surprises up their sleeves after Tanaka nabbed a few track wins at the Cycle Messenger World Championships in Poland a few weeks ago.

The points and scratch races are championship events, and the women’s race should see Team Bell Laps track pro, Beth Newell, out front of Hanan Alves-Hyde.  Unless of course some of our local pro’s in town for the weekend show up for a fly by race at the track.   The men’s race is more open but if Logan Loader shows up my money is on him.  The Jacques Maynes and Holloway will be off and away contesting the US Pro Crit so the men’s fields should be hard, fast (#twss), and a great event to watch while drinking a beer.  Anyhow… it’s a night for the big fast boys to scare us all while we drink beer and ooh and ahh, see you there.  Event details below….

 

Friday, August 19, 2011

Registration: Championship Events: $20/first event; $5/additional events
Non-Championship Category 3,4 riders: $15 (includes both events)
Race Day Registration Only.

Track opens at 5:30PM. Registration Opens 6:00PM.  Registration closes at 6:40 for Keirin events.  Racing begins 7:00PM.
7:00PM -

*24 rider maximum in keirin heats.  IMPORTANT: Category 3 racers will be allowed if Keirin fields don’t reach field maximum (24). Category 3 racers will be ‘wait-listed’ and added to keirin field in order of sign-up.
**36 rider maximum

 

Ed Note: There has CLEARLY not been enough self promotion for events at Hellyer Velodrome.  Hernando throws great parties, and word is he will be sporting high heels.

Just a reminder to come out and have a blast with us tomorrow. And guess what … we very likely will have the legendary ALFRED NASH as a guest announcer!!! If you were at Elite Natz last year, you’ll recognize the dulcet tones of Mr. Nash – and he’s doing his best to get up and join me on
the mic tomorrow night. HELLYEAH!

*Racing starts at 7pm*, but track will open as close to 5:30pm as possible.

Racing for men cat 1,2,3 / men 3,4 / and women 1,2,3. Scratch, Points, and Miss&Out.

I know … we don’t have sprints – and i apologize – but remember, we have the Elite District Championships the following Friday and Sunday (8/19, 21) which will have Keirins on Friday, and Sprints on Sunday.

But tomorrow – it’s enduro events and partying.

Remember,* free food and drink* provided by Kris Spyrka and the Bay Area Bicycling Network. *http://www.bayareabicyclenetwork.com/

*They’ve teamed up with Sports Basement and Jookra Custom clothing (http://jakroo.us/custom/custom-design.html) to provide some serious swag for podiums.

And Paul Vlasveld of Adobe Software has donated some sweet prizes, as well.

As always, we thank Greg Daddy Dries and* ROCKTAPE* for being our 2011 Friday Night title sponsor – as well as Michael Hutchinson and *MATADOR Wines* for the “Matador of the Night” awards for each Scratch category.

Hope to see you all there,
michael hernandez
jonathan racine

hernando&panda productions

 

Two of Hellyer’s juniors qualified for the World Track Championships in Moscow with national championships victories this past weekend.  Andrew Lanier, whose father –  A. Lanier Sr. gives much of his time to development of juniors down at Hellyer Velodrome, qualified for the Points Race with his win.  Andrew is one of the Specialized Junior Development riders produced by the Innes/Nolan machine who terrorize the NorCal peloton.  If  you are a Hellyer regular, you can attest that Andrew Jr. has developed into a monster on the oval.

 

Ryan Gadow also qualified for worlds in Moscow with a win in the Team Sprint competition.  Gadow is one of the that the SJBC program has produced down at Hellyer Velodrome.  Given that the Hellyer Junior program  has developed talent like Daniel Holloway these kids will be riders to watch in the future.

There were several stand out performances at Junior Track Nationals by NorCal riders but a trip to worlds is something special.  When you see Lanier and Gadow on the road be safe but give them hell… they need to get even faster so they can tear it up in Moscow.