Merced Criterium - Central California Part II

After an exciting day at the Snelling Road race, a few of us (Bob, Spence and Alex) headed down to downtown Merced early Sunday morning (around sunrise), in order for the Juniors to race Elite 4 at the Merced Criterium. After the very rainy Friday, and the fairly wet roads at Snelling, at Merced the weather and conditions turned out MUCH better than I was expecting. Cold (high 40's) but clear and sunny conditions for the 50 minute race.

The race went really well – the Juniors were among a field of 50-60 adult riders, and they maintained good positions mid-pack for the first few laps (of the 25 lap race).

Alex really rode very smartly and held back for the first 2/3 of the race, then moved up to the front around lap 20 in order to get into position. On the final lap head moved into the number two place, and positioned himself ideally for the finish straight & sprint.

On the finish straight, Alex went head-to-head with Hank from Roaring Mouse (21 year-old) and almost made it ahead, but ran out of gearing spinning his Jr gears, so he came away with a solid 2^nd place, and probably with close to enough points to upgrade to Cat 3.

Spence had a good race, finishing in the Top 20, and Bob managed through 20 laps before flatting in the last 5 laps, where his race ended.

All in all, another good demonstration of how the Juniors are progressing in tactics, as well as their power.

Photos of the race are here.

Snelling Road Race - Big TEAM Effort!

The first big road race of the year in Snelling (East of Turlock), was highlighted by perhaps the best team performance of the ACJR's. With four racers (Alex, Spence, Skyler and Jack) racing in the Junior 15-16 race, the team was able to employ real race tactics with great success. The end result: a stellar 2nd place for Alex, who is well on his way to an Cat 3 upgrade.

The story starts the night before, where the boys discussed how they were going to handle breaks. Jack and Skyler planned to catch all the breaks so that Alex could stay fresh for a strong finish. Spence was also going to try and see if could contend for a placing.

The way it actually happened was almost to plan - the race started out with 17 racers, so the AC team had a solid group to defend their position. After a fast start, the pack stayed together for the first lap, then the attacks started coming on the short climbs. Skyler and Jack pulled the pack up to on every major attack. This continued until the attacks began subsiding, but in the second lap, another strong attack went out, with Alex and Spence chasing it down.

Once the group saw that the AC boys were going to chase down any attack, they gradually gave up trying to attack and by the third and final attack, the field stayed together (except for a few stragglers). On the final turn, Alex and two of the stronger racers were at the front, with Alex staying on their wheel as they entered the uphill finish straight. It came down to a three-way sprint, with Alex getting a solid 2nd place. Spence took 8th place with Skyler and Jack finishing with the pack, but having done their tremendous work in making sure that Alex was well positioned for his finish.

All around, a great day for the AC Juniors. Bob raced in a very fast Junior 17-18 group, but finished after two laps - a bee sting was the final straw for him today.

The AC Masters were well represented in the Elite 4 race, with 5 racers (Blair, Peter, Jeff, Bill and Rich). Peter had the strongest finish, with Bill behind him. Blair was racing strongly, but suffered from two flats which ended his race. Jeff and Rich both experienced "early season" racing, and made it through four of the five laps before throwing in the towel.

The weather, which had been threatening rain all week, turned out to be just fine - mid 50's and cloudy, then burning off for Bob's noon-time race. The course was wet with some areas of standing water 8-12" deep, which meant every 20 minutes your shoes got a good soaking.

This is a great start to the season, and we can all look forward to seeing how the boys' tactics play out in the coming weeks.

Photos of the race are here.

Tomorrow's race is the Merced Criterium - Alex, Spence and Bob are racing.

Ronde van Brisbeen results

As part of their ongoing "quest for points" the boys headed out on a wet and rainy Sunday down to Sierra Point in Brisbane to race in the Ronde van Brisbeen, the Dutch-inspired criterium around the familiar Sierra Point cyclocross venue.

Though racing in the Elite 4 group, the field was winnowed down by the rain, and the boys did well, working together for much of the race, coming away with two Top 10 finishes! Once again, Alex Howard showed that he's got the power to ride with the big boys, and it is starting to look like he's fast accumulating points for an upgrade to Cat 3.

Elite 4 Results:
Alex Howard - 5th Place
Bob Siegel - 10th Place
Spence Peterson - DNF (mechanical)

And thanks to Ken Howard for handling the driving duties! Special guest in the team wagon was Scott Zwizanski, pro rider for Kelly Benefit Strategies who brought home a 17th in the Pro/1/2 race.

USA Cycling Junior Points Ranking:
Alex Howard - 2nd place!
Spence Peterson - 15th
Skyler Taylor - 30th

USA Cycling Elite 4 Points Ranking:
Alex Howard - 7th place

Next races:
Saturday, Feb. 27 - Snelling Road Race (ACJR and Masters)
Sunday, Feb. 28 - Merced Criterium (ACJR)

Cherry Pie served up by AC

On Sunday Alex brought home the pie! He won the hotly contested Jr 15-16 race at the Napa Cherry Pie Criterium, after having predicting that at our team meeting with coach Craig last week! Wow! Great riding by all the AC squad.

The results:

Jr 15-16
Alex 1st
Spence 4th
Skyler 7th
Jack 17th

Jr 17-18
Bob 16th

Elite 4
Scott 4th (also won 2 primes!)
Alex 5th
Bob 35th

Good riding,
Blair