chico downtown criterium

I'll keep this one short. After a super frustrating day at the rr on Saturday I was ready to throw down hard at the crit on Sunday. Lots of attacks and breaks, but nothing stuck as much of the field was apparently interested in taking home a share of the $1000 prize list. Chris Carter of team AC got away with a couple other guys who he promptly dropped with about 10 laps to go. No one seemed to interested in working together to bring him back, so he stretched his solo lead out to 15-20 seconds. Mike Sayers in his ?final pro race? instigated a last ditch counter attack/chase group with a lap to go which I jumped after with 1/2 a lap to go. I cought all of the guys Sayers was with, but came just short of catching him as he came just short of catching Chris Carter.

3rd place was not a bad way to finish off the season. I can't wait to do it all again next year.
JD

Folsom two bridges circuit race

Elliot, Dylan and JD showed up for this really cool little circuit in downtown Folsom, which wound through the old timey part of town, where they used to put on a hilly little crit, and then proceeded to cross over lake Natoma on the main bridge through town, then hooked around ancrossed back over to the start/finish on the old trestle bridge. We need more interesting courses like this around here! It was so much more fun than your average four corner crit.
With my legs still feeling not so fresh from the SF Twilight the night before I was planning on sitting in for at least half of the race. Oh well. About fifteen minutes in to the race Tyler Dibble counter-attacked after a prime and got away with a rider from AC racing. I thought it was too early to go and since he was out there with only one other guy I wasn't too worried. A couple laps later a VOS rider bridged up to the break which was about 15 sec up the road by this point. One lap later I could sense the lack of firepower and interest in the pack and decided it was time to get to work. I sprinted out of the 180 onto the big bridge with only one other guy on my wheel. I pulled the two of us to within 20 meters of the break, before I pulled over to let him close the gap down the rest of the way. We all started working well together immediately and I was surprised when on lap later, Joel Robertson bridged up to us. I was a little worried about this, as Joel was sitting in 3rd place for the Omnium that this race was a part of, but apparently the Z-team guy who was in the lead didn't notice that third place was up the road.
The six of us worked well together and had the gap over 30 seconds, aided by Elliot and Dylan constantly sitting 2nd wheel in the field keeping the chase nice and disorganized. At about 20 minutes from the finish we started slowing down and the pack pulled us back to 14 secs. I hit it hard again out of the 180 and took a long pull which got rid of the VOS and AC guys. Another couple pulls Joel, Tyler, and I took cracked the guy I bridged up with and by the next time through the start/finish we had the gap back out to 30 seconds. The Three of us worked well together until the last lap when Tyler and I made Joel do most of the work since he was in a position to win the overall omnium. Coming into the corner with 250 meters to go I jumped hard from the back as I felt good and thought I could hold it all the way from there, unfortunately I pulled my shoe out of the pedal and had to slow down a good amout to get myself back together. I still had a good acceleration, but Tyler was able to get by me with about 100 meters to go. I started reeling him back in, but he was able to hold me off by half of a wheel at the line.
Elliot ended up rolling in for eighth after a good day of controlling the field, and I was able to finish just off the top step of the podium for a frustrating fifth time this year. Oh well. I'll get em' next time!

Suisun Harbor Criterium

JD, Sean, Josh, Elliot, and Dylan lined up for this windy short crit.

Suisun can easily splinter to bits due to the super windy conditions and less than half mile four corner course that we roll around 72 times, so the BPG boys made sure to have at least one guy off the front with every break that went. Lots of promising moves went up the road including Sean solo for 8 laps, but nothing stuck until about 15 laps to go.

Elliot and Sean made it into a split of about 15 guys that got about 15 seconds off the front of the main field. Josh, Dylan and I cruised at the front of the field following anyone who even though about trying to bridge. The gap to the break started to shrink with about 5 laps laps to go as the field realized it was now or never time, if they wanted to reel in the break.

Dylan hit the deck with 4 laps to go following the single file peleton through turn one, but escaped with only some missing skin for his trouble.

The Field made contact with the break, just as we were hearing the bell for one lap to go. I made my move up the inside after turn 2. I continued to move up through turn 3 and then jammed the inside of turn four as hard as I could as most everyone was taking it wide to try to ride the finishing straight in the protected - from the wind - right hand gutter. I was probably tenth wheel through the last corner, but was able to use my cornering and open road to start my sprint immediately. I was passing guys like they were standing still as I was well recovered from my earlier efforts, due to the free ride I had gotten in the peleton, cuz of Sean and Elliot's breakaway. I was closing in on the front of the field fast, but was just not quite able to reel in Eric Wohlberg and a kyoto sangyo university rider who had gapped off the rest of the field. Elliot followed me in for sixth place.

After the race there was lots of complaining from the field about an erratic sprint from Wohlberg, who was eventually relegated for putting everyone in the gutter. While I didn't see the incident, as I was sprinting on the opposite side of the road, others told me, and I'm inclined to believe them, that Eric's sprint was fine and that it was the kyoto sangyo university rider who put everyone into the curb.

While having someone relegated in front of you is not the best way to move up in the standings, I officially ended up second (for the fourth time this year. I swear I'll win one of these stupid bike race things one of these days.) and Elliot ended up fifth for a pretty decent day for the BPG crit squad.

ICCC Dash for Cash race report

This was a classic business park race- flat, 4 corners and spiced up with some wind. I won't deny that I took special pleasure in receiving the number 666 at this International Christian Cycling Club promoted race and I was feeling optimistic about my chances in this race. My confidence was further bolstered by the attendance of my teammates Matt Tamel, JD Bergman, Sean McBride, Logan Loader and Dylan Clark and of course Sergei Badeka calling the shots on the radio.

There were upwards of 130 starters since it was a P/1/2/3 race and in addition to a lot of inexperienced cat 3's there were many of the usual nor-cal fast men at the start including a few guys who get paid to ride; Healthnet's Roman Kilun and Rock Racing's Kevin Klein were present as well.

Our strategy for the day was to avoid possible problems created by a big, unpredictable field by riding at the front and making the race good and fast to reduce the field size as quickly as possible- it seemed like I was not alone in this tactic as the pace was high from the gun.

There were a lot of attacks all throughout the race and by the look of the results, our plan worked and there were a lot of non-finishers. The format of this race has changed and instead of a $10 prime on every lap, there were several $40 primes spread throughout the day. For such a large field, the prizes were surprisingly small... and no cash at all for the top 5 as it turned out. Can't complain too much I guess, but with a name like Dash for Cash I was kind of expecting something signifigant to race for. The primes did serve to split a few breaks off the front, but nothing seemed like it would stick and by the later part of the race it was clear that we were looking at a sprint.

That didn't stop us from making the effort to get off the front with every attack- all the BPG riders were working hard to be represented in possible moves. In the last 30 minutes, I think I was in 3 different breakaway attempts; Sergei kept telling me to go, so that's what I did. I thought I was going to die a couple times when the break I was in came back to the group and I immediately found myself in a position to go with the counter... I was determined to leave every bit of energy I had out on the course so I just got in the pain bag and went with every attack I could.

Soon enough we were hearing the bell for the final lap and I was still in the mood to suffer so I got up as close to the front as I could. I got lucky and found myself coming into the last corner in the 4th spot- I sprinted hard but I was boxed in and couldn't improve on that position. Nobody came past me and I was 4th with JD rolling in just behind me. 4th and 5th, not bad!

-Josh Snead

Super Week Day 1: Beverly Cycling Classic.

This race is always an interesting one, it's one of the hardest courses we do and its the first day out so you never know whos gonna be there or how the legs will react. My flight was delayed by about 5 hours on Thursday night, so I ended up spending about 12-13 hours on planes and in airports, not exactly what I wanted for a good set up to a hard race. No matter JD picked me up at about 2 oclock am and I managed to get to sleep by 4....ouch.

As for the racing, we lined up about 80 guys for the hot hilly race with a strong cast of characters including Bahaati, Justin Williams and Sterling from RR, a couple of hard aussies from Jittery Joes, a full Kelly Benefits team, and a host of local hitters. It was absolutely house from the gun with the entire first thirty minutes pretty much lined out with the occassional attack making it even faster. JD and I stayed pretty well up and covered as best we could, I thought I felt pretty good until I started looking for the lap counter and realized we had done less than half the race, 35 laps to go and I was hurting a bit already. Lucky for me, the pace slowed a bit and a couple of breaks managed to get a bit of time but came back, I knew this would likely mean the winning move would come quick.

And just as predicted it went, JD and I missed the move as did Kelly Benefits, who quickly sent all 5 or 6 guys to the front and drilled it for two laps bringing the gap down just enough to send two across and then shut it down. The breakneck speed at which Kelly implemented this beautiful piece of textbook racing left just about everybody else (save for Richard England who went across with em...Kudos to that guy!) gasping for breath and unable to do much. So that was the top 10 up the road.

Shortly after, at about the time I was wondering if I was gonna make it through the race a few guys dawdled off and got a gap so off I went to give it a shot. We worked well for a few laps and were eventually joined by Vic Ayala, Bahaati, some Candelario clone from Kelly and a few others and we began to make it happen. Lots of primes and attacks kept us varying between kinda going and going like hell, while up front the lead 10 lapped the field. We ended up with 15 in our group so everyone should get paid as long as we didnt get caught. Late in the game I managed to snag a 100 dollar prime just barely from a late charging Bahaati and settled in to try and make it to the end. There was a bit more action in our group with me working a good bit to keep things smooth and try to stay up front, and at about 3 to go 3 of us ended up with a bit of a gap and charged to try and make it stick but no dice. We were caught just before one to go and unfortunately I ended up in the lead out role going in to the hill.

Knowing that if I slowed it up to get off I would be caught out by the flurry of attacks I opted to lead it out, the race here is basically to the decent two corners from the line so I did my best to just lead it to that corner knowing if I got there towards the front I would hold my own. I did just that until about 10 feet from the corner where I got swamed by four riders, came out of the last corner in 5th wheels and managed to hold off all but one for what should have been 16th place, key word should have...

With no finishing camera (huh?) and a few dishonest clowns that have been here too many years past my very solid and positive 16th place turned into me arguing with the officials and getting given the firs "unkown rider" spot in 19th. Not exactly the way I wanted things to go, I had even checked in at the finish as my jersey was unzipped but apparently Im just not cool enough.

Good job to JD who rode real strong and looked good all day, to Logan who came out trying to make the break that stuck and ended up feeding and to a real tough Dylan that gave it a solid go till his post surgery incision started to bleed. All in all Im satisfied-ish with the days ride if not the "official" result, with the easier days and the promise of a finishing camera I think things should get a good bit better.

Napa Downtown Grand Prix

Josh, Sean, Justin, Clint, Randy, and I showed up for this short track lollipop shaped crit. The weather was super hot and so was the racing. Once again the BPG / Montano Velo boys rode a great team race, covering or initiating just about every break that went up the road. About half way through the race Sean got away with JAndy Mondonca in what turned out to be the move of the day. Unfortunately Sean wasn’t able to hang with JAndy’s 54x11 pedal mashing. Josh then got off the front to try to chase JAndy back with Sean. After that counter came back it was Justin’s turn to try to get up to JAndy. He crossed 15 seconds of the 20 second gap in just a couple of laps. It looked like Justin was going to catch JAndy and be able to go for the win when he washed out in the hairpin turn. With five laps to go I put in a big attack and got a decent gap off the front of the pack. With three to go I was cought by what I thought was just Kevin Klein and Phil Zajkek, but may have in fact been the entire pack. After letting each of them take two pulls, so I could recover, I pulled through hard into the head wind and through the hairpin. I saw that I had gapped the field, cuz Phil and Kevin had sat up, so I accelerated hard down the tailwind start/ finish straight to get my gap back. I stayed clear until half a lap to go when I was cought by two chasers just as I was hitting the headwind. I was able to get the wheel of the Lombardi’s rider who was just sitting on Rand Miller to block for JAndy. I was able to pass the Lombardi’s rider in the hairpin the final time with some good momentum and took Sergei’s advice from the sidelines to put in one more big effort, to outsprint Rand for the second place finish.

Specialized / Sierra Nevada Criterium

BPG / Montano Velo showed up with a strong team with Clint, Randy, Matt T., Justin, Logan, Josh and JD. It was 95 degrees in the central valley for this office park slug fest. The plan for the day was to be sure we had guys in the break, because we were pretty sure it was going to split up. BPG rode strong initiating or covering all of the attacks of the day. After getting one prime early I followed another rider attacking for a later prime 25 minutes into the race, and ended up with four other guys off of the front. Logan followed another group to bridge to my group, to make 2 BPGs out of 8 shortly after. Josh then followed the last guys up to the front a lap later to bring 3 BPG riders into the break of ~12. The break worked fairly well together, and the rest of the BPG guys did a great job to shut down the pack. We finally lapped the field with five laps to go. Justin, Clint, Randy, and Matt all did a great job keeping the group together and the pace high for the rest of the race. Just after we got the bell for the last lap, after monster pulls by Matt and Randy, a Waste management rider who was down a lap attacked to try to set up his teammate, who had lapped. Josh handily got his wheel and another WM rider pulled me and the pack back up to them. At 400 meters to go just as the pace at front started to slow, Cameron from team Agel?, who I didn't recognize, but had been impressed with his pulls during the breakaway, attacked hard. He came by on the left going a good 5 mp/h faster than the guys on the front. I accelerated immediately up the right and closed his gap to two bike lengths by the last corner and continued to gain on him down the finishing straight. Unfortunately for me, Cameron was really strong and stayed clear to the line to win by a bike length. Josh sprinted in for 7th and Logan finished an impressive 8th even with a nose bleed and cramps.BPG put together another great team effort to end up with three guys in the top ten. I'm only sorry I couldn't cap off all of the great work with a W!