Berkeley Hills RR, or..."Damn, that hurt!"

After another week of having my ass kicked by school, largely ignoring my bike (maybe 5 hrs this week before today if Im lucky) and a last minute SOS plea from work to come in and cover, I had officially decided that Berkeley Hills would not be in my best interest, and that I wasnt going. That was until the ride I had arranged for Dave called at 7 Sat. night and said he wasnt going. So against my better judgement I drug my sad sorry self out of the house with Dave in tow and headed to the east bay oh so early this mother's day morning to race. Logan was on hand, and Viktor made a brief appearance, but after trying to pay with a credit card and getting shot down, apparently took off before any of us could try and sort him out, so that made the squad myself, Logan and Dave for the day. And off we went...

After about three miles the signature Pat Briggs early move went, and as they usually come back quick enough my initial thought was to leave it but once one Nate English, followed by Taylor Kuphaldt from Davis joined the fun I figured it would be wise to have somebody there and followed suit, we had a few others along for a total of seven, and were joined after a half a lap by Jesse Moore of Cal Giant. At this point I was wondering if this early move was gonna come back after all, and after the first lap when we were joined by another 8 including Mike Sayers, Ozzy Olmos and a couple of other strong dudes, I knew that this was not the early move, but THE MOVE, and I was a bit worried.

From here I can make a long story short, I lasted till the 3rd time over momma bear, with Sayers, Moore, English, and Kuphaldt pushing the pace couldnt hack it and came off just behind a few other guys that couldnt take the heat either. From here I did almost 2 laps solo, catching a couple of guys, and being caught by a couple of guys, until...The last time up the climb I was caught by half of what was "the field", and then about 1k from the line the other half of "the field" to finish of those in the race at all, for 26th place.

Not so surprised to be honest, although given my recent lack of training it could have been a lot worse. Unfortunately I was the only of us three to finish making it not exactly a banner day for BPG. Sorry for the bad news, but on the bright side school is essentially over this week, and I feel confident that with a good block of training in me Ill be properly ready to "race" race again.

Hope everybody is having a good Sunday, see ya next time

Sean.

Oh yeah, and in case you were curious the places that matter went something like:
1. Nate English (damn, this kid is something else)
2. Jesse Moore
3. Taylor Kuphaldt
4. Mike Sayers
5. Ozzy Olmos
6. Jonathon Eropkin (him and Ozzy may be the other way around)
7. Mark Burnham

thats all i know for sure, later dudes

EBC Criterium

Todays was a pretty fun race. It seemed like at all times we had the race under control, basically what ever we wanted we got until the last lap. Viktor was amazing, once again showing amazing time trial power. There were alot of breaks going and we always had atleast one person in them leaving no work for us to do. Along with Viktor, Justin and Josh were bolth riding very strong.

Anyways the race was a usual crit with many atacks early in the race, ususally the break would just get too big and the group would chase them down. Nearly the whole race though Victor was up the road which was very nice because it was up to everyone else to bring the breaks back. However being that we were the team with numbers it left more people trying to single handedly bridge to the breaks and all we had to do was follow wheels so if anyone got to it, we would just have another one there. Once we caught the break there were a few counters. Soon enough it was 3 laps to go. At this point Viktor launched a huge atack and was solo. It looked like he would make it for a little bit but soon enough he was caught and we were trying to get organzied for the sprint. I saw randy and a few other guys trying to get in the "sweet spot" and I went and joined. I thought we had a good group getting ready to lign it up but when I looked back, they had gotten boxed off my wheel. With 500 meters to go I was sittin in about 4th posistion waiting patiently when someone (cough cough) came up and decided to jock for posistion and while doing it let a little gap go. I ended up taking 3rd in the sprint. Although not a win, still a very fun race

Cat's Hill

(Posted By Viktor Rapinskii)

About halfway through the race I saw a break go and I thought that was the end of that. Luckily it had Elliot in it, and Sergei told me that if it comes down to a sprint between those 4, our chances are really good, since one of the other riders was James Mattis (Cal Giant). After that a flurry of attacks brought the break back and closer to the end 2 riders kind of just rolled off the front. I was told they're not really dangerous and we kind of just let them dangle out there for a while and I knew it would come back. Sitting in the pack, I saw Mike Sayers do a lot of the work, which only meant that Jackson Steward was feeling good for the sprint. I didn't think I had that great of a condition to contest the field sprint, so I wanted to take a chance. Throughout the whole race I was paying attention to the riders around me and analyzing where on the course they are the most tired. It turned out that right after the hill, when you make the first right turn along the park, that's where everyone would usually catch their breath, and that's where I decided to attack. I brought 2 guys with me and 2 laps later we bridged up to the front two, thus making 5.

I knew at that point, that if we were to come back, I had about 8 teammates that were still in the race with a legitimate shot at the win. When I heard that our gap started growing, all 5 of us in the break stepped on the gas. With 1 to go, I knew I wanted to be first before the final turn and opened up the throttle on the downhill. I think I caught the others by surprise as they must've thought that was too early and the finishing straight is long, but when you're on the downhill like that, you can start your sprint even at 500 meters, because you carry a lot of momentum. I flew out of the last corner already a bike length ahead of the other 4 and just kept that advantage to the finish line.

Thank you for a great race, I can't wait till the next weekend.

Viktor Rapinskii

Isla Vista Crit

(Posted By Randy Bramblett)

Just wanted to touch base with you guys about Justin and I's trip to Santa Barbara....

very exhausting .. came back at midnight last night but great weather and hot chicks in bikinis at the isla vista crit was all worth it.

Saturdays Crit was in Isla Vista where all the drunk crazy UCSB kids go... fast short course and hot weather was all good - o and several big NRC guys showin up tuning up the legs before Garrett Lamire. Basically a field of 120 got blown to 36 finishers ...in a sprint that came out of a "D" shaped bend and we were all in our 53-11's going 40mph. Still working on trying to impede on a raging 8 man pro team leadout train. I was 19th ... Justin had a off day but more than made up for it the next day at Ojai taking 5th in a strong cat 2 field. That race was one of the harder Pro/1 races Ive ever done ... So I stayed at the front with the big names an hour into it ... got so dehydrated despite drinking 40 gallons of liquid and getting feeds in the feed zone ( of a crit) from Justin.. my lights went out with 20 to go.. but adding to some positiveness ...so did the lights of Ivan Dominguez and Rashaan Bahati.


Randy

Madera Stage Race

(Posted By Matt Willinger)

BPG: Elliot Jarimillo,, Matt Tamel, Matt Willinger, Steele Willinger

Field: Started 51 riders

Willinger 3rd place in GC

I came into this race unsure about my fitness and nervous in general but in the week leading up to it EJ and I had some good workouts behind the scooter and it made all the difference. The field at Madera was relatively large this year and had a couple pros and Mattis and Moore from CalGiant just coming off good rides at Redlands so I knew it would be harder than years past. The first two stages of the race are both 10 mile time trials, weird but ok. I got 4Th and 5Th and ended up 3rd overall going into the crit. Mattis was in first by about 2 minutes Moore was in second somewhere in the middle and Scott Zwizanski from Bissell was just 12 seconds behind me (oh yeah, and with absolutely zero aero equipment and me in full on space monkey getup). Good ole Christian Kearney slotted into 5Th.
The crit was fairly uneventful, Elliot and Matt T pretty much covered the danger guys and I somehow rolled off the front for a 0:05 time bonus which proved totally inconsequential in the end. One of the race officials offered me 10$ instead which I briefly considered.
I knew tactics would be important in the road race. It being basically flat I had nowhere to really gain the time I would need to get in front of Moore and Mattis was to far ahead to touch baring a complete meltdown which I didn't see happening in Madera. Better to control the race together and defend our podium spot. The fact was if Zwizanski won the road race with the field together he would jump me in GC with the 0:20 time bonus and after covering a couple of his attacks in the crit I could see it happening. So a break of four took off on the first lap. It had no GC guys in it except Vincent Owens from Sierra Pacific. It was excellent for us, if they succeeded they would soak up the time bonuses and everything would be cool. This is where Elliot and Matt T rode like they were on a damn pro team. They rode smart with CalGiant tapping out the miles to keep attacks at bay and the break close but just out of reach. It's a sensitive business keeping the break right where you want it and I couldn't have asked for better team work. Meanwhile I was focusing on staying fresh to cover Zwizanski when the time came. He put in a few hard ones but not the monster attack that I was fearing.
In the end it all worked out. Elliot and Matt both flatted 15 meters after the finish which was awesome. Thanks for reading my long ass race report if you made it this far! (but it was 3 days of racing) See you at Sea Otter.

Special Thanks to The Man 'o' Steele for the support. We couldn't do it with out you.

Matt

Hanford Criterium

(Posted By Justin Fraga)

Riders: Randy Bramblett, Clint Rogers, JD Bergman, Aaron Cox, Justin Fraga

The Hanford crit always offers a relatively large purse in the Pro/1/2 event, so we expected at least some upper tier riders to show up. Walking back from the registration tent I noticed a Pinarello Prince parked in the Cal Giant parking area and new it had to belong to Ben Jaques-Maynes. Clint, Randy and I got dressed and rode through some of the surrounding streets to warm up. We passed a Symmetrics rider but weren't sure who it was. Turned out to be Svein Tuft, the guy who rolled away for a solo victory in the US Pro Road Race Championships last season.

So now we were up against a full Cal Giant roster (Andy JM and the like), BJM, and Svein Tuft. Dave McCook was also there without team mates.

The race began and immediately I knew we were in for some work. Tuft started attacking 2 laps in. While the pace was very fast, the race wasn't stressful since everyone should have known who to watch-- the only thing we had to do was go with AJM, BJM, and Svein, no matter what. Well we screwed that up pretty bad and BPG watched as those exact 3 riders rolled away. There went the race. Ken Hansen from Giant also went with them and the 4 were not seen again.

I was highly frustrated and started launching angry attacks. Giant was doing what Giant does: blocking, sitting, generally getting in the way. They wouldn't let anyone go. Mike Hernandez (VOS) and Joel Robertson (Sierra Pacific) joined in and the 3 of us decided we were either going to get away or go down in flames. Either option was better than sitting in and getting lapped to us. We attacked furiously... Hernandez yelled over the wind: "Just keep hitting them! They'll give up eventually!" He turned out to be right. Randy told me he was going to work hard and would sit for the sprint once we hit 10 laps to go... he moved up and started pulling the race-- at one point Randy and I went off the front in what probably looked like a pointless attack, but Joel & Mike quickly jumped up to us. Dirk Copeland from Giant covered the move and Randy moved back and let a gap form. That was our chance and I put my head down and took a monster pull. Joel and Mike followed with the same effort. Behind us I saw the bridge attempts disintegrate and I knew we finally had it.

We had completed 3/4 of the race. Copeland saw the lead break closing in on the pack when we came through the center of the "figure 8" in the course and decided it was safe to work with us. The four of us took smooth, strong pulls and quickly sunk 30 seconds into the field. With 2 to go and the main field lapped by Svein's break, we were the last 4 riders on the course (since the main field lost a lap and had already sprinted). Hernandez and Robertson are both iron-willed riders who can attack until their lungs bleed, but they aren't good sprinters and I knew Copeland was the wheel to follow. As we rounding the final turn he jumped to the inside, and as I tried to follow I stuck a pedal in the gutter, knocking my bike in the air and almost taking out Robertson and Hernandez entirely. I held it upright but my chain had fallen to my climbing ring. I didn't have time to shift back up so I dumped into my 11 tooth and sprinted, cross chained. I managed to spin past Hernandez and come in behind Copeland for 6th place.

Later Randy told me the field sprint was incredibly hectic, with Ken Hansen taking the win in a massive run up, and Tuft coming in 3rd. Randy either took 9th or 10th, which means he either won or nearly won the field sprint, even though the guys in the break managed to come in ahead of everyone else.

1: Ken Hansen
2: BJM?
3: Svein Tuft
4: AJM?
5: Dirk Copeland
6: Justin Fraga (BPG)
7: Mike Hernandez
8: Joel Robertson
9?10? Randy Bramblett (BPG)
(not sure how the other guys finished)

-Justin

Copperopolis

(Posted By Dylan Clark)

I got caught in heavy rush hour traffic driving through downtown
Milton, so i barely made it to the start on time. About eighty Cat 3s
started the race, and we just cruised.
about a mile or two from where we left we rolled through the feed
zone. Id like to say that i appreciate the fact that Steele was in the
feedzone all day long helping everyone out, which was way cool.
the first lap was quite uneventful, as everyone was just getting a
feel for the course.
As Lap two came around things heated up a little, mostly over the
first climb. we all ascended a little quicker than the previous lap,
and only about ten people were shelled off the back. I met up with Matt
Willinger out in the flats that very same lap. He helped me quite a bit
with positioning advice for this course, which i kept in mind until the
finish line.
as lap three rolled around the climb went faster, and i was
feeling fueled up thanks to all the goods provided by steele and my
father. this time around the group was all but cut in half after the
climb over the hills. A break went that i think barely anyone saw, so
at this point there were two off the front, leading a pack of about
thirty. No one was doing anything about the situation, which actually
really annoyed me. there was a feeling of contentment among the pack. i
wasnt exactly diggin' the scene so i decided to try to escape.
Earlier in the race the first climb didnt really seem tough enough
to do any damage on, hopwever after about sixty miles the situation
changed. Approaching the feed zone on the last lap i made damn sure i
was top ten so i didnt get all bunched up at the bottom of the climb.
as i went to the opposite side of the road that i had been visiting all
day, i saw Matt Willinger with a bottle for me, which tasted pretty
good at this point.
as soon as the elevation started to head up, my gear ratios did
to, as i jumped out of the saddle and tried to get out of there. A few
came with me but fell back after a few minutes. after i got onto the
flats i got a split time of 45 seconds from the motorcycle. I heard the
break ahead of me was quite a ways ahead, so i just concentrated on not
getting caught.
I hit the back straightaway and recieved an updated split time of
1:45. inspired, i just kept giving it. Upon approaching the final
climb, i heard that a had 2:30 on the pack. I made it up the climb
fairly quickly, and began the off-road bumpy assault down to the
finish. Hot and tired, i rolled throught for third place at
Copperopolis.