Golden State Pain
Cat 3 race
Martin Tam and Jeff Schomacker and me were there. Jeff and Martin covered attacks, made good counters and positioned well. Jeff is new to the team and a great addition. I attacked with about a third of the way through to test the field and see if we could get some action. Only had one serious taker from Spine. Two or three bridged, a couple sat on and the break died after a few laps. There were lots of attacks for a 3s race, which made it more fun. Ended up with a field sprint and I took third. Waited just a little too long a couple guys got an early jump and were able to hold on.
M123 race (2nd race)
John F, Peter, Roy, Jason B, Brian C and Moi.
Strategy was for Jason B, moi and Brian to cover the first half of the race and then attack near the end, if possible, and leave the finish to John & Peter. With a few laps in or so there was an opportune time to roll of the front. Took a little solo flyer for two laps and hopefully made some folks chase. Jason B's frame cracked and he was out. Held off the pack for a prime but they recorded the wrong # and I was too tired to argue. Stayed positioned up front when Chris Baker (EMC) went off for a couple laps. After Chris was pulled in, I noted to Brian that Safeway, uncharacteristically, had not attacked yet and to stay tuned. Dan almost always attacks early in the crits, which makes for a tough race. I was hoping they were a little tired from BH, and the 80 min P12 race....Delusions of grandeur. Stepped back a few places and found Dan Martin the Taz man who looked ready for some action despite soloing about 10 laps in the P12 then attacking and getting 3rd. Got on Dan's wheel and within a half a lap he attacked and I followed (we were less than 10 laps into the race). The next 30-40 minutes were just sheer pain as we established the break and held it. Gerald Roberts from Pac. Coast caught on and we eventually pushed the gap to 20 seconds. I was really hoping we would have 4 or 5 in the break, which would have been much better odds. Did everything I could to take good pulls (it hurt bad to pull through after a couple laps). Dan is just an animal and could have dropped us both at any time, but needed us to make the break successful. I made it to either 5 or 6 to go on the lap cards and fell off on one of Dan's pulls. Tried everything I could mentally and physically down the back side to get back on, but the legs just gave out and "he’s cracked" as Mr. Ligget would say. In hindsight it might have been better to sit on when startin to hit the explode zone, but that's not how I roll. Have no idea what happened the last five laps, except John ended up 6th and DM held off the pack for the win – a well deserved one.
Martin Tam and Jeff Schomacker and me were there. Jeff and Martin covered attacks, made good counters and positioned well. Jeff is new to the team and a great addition. I attacked with about a third of the way through to test the field and see if we could get some action. Only had one serious taker from Spine. Two or three bridged, a couple sat on and the break died after a few laps. There were lots of attacks for a 3s race, which made it more fun. Ended up with a field sprint and I took third. Waited just a little too long a couple guys got an early jump and were able to hold on.
M123 race (2nd race)
John F, Peter, Roy, Jason B, Brian C and Moi.
Strategy was for Jason B, moi and Brian to cover the first half of the race and then attack near the end, if possible, and leave the finish to John & Peter. With a few laps in or so there was an opportune time to roll of the front. Took a little solo flyer for two laps and hopefully made some folks chase. Jason B's frame cracked and he was out. Held off the pack for a prime but they recorded the wrong # and I was too tired to argue. Stayed positioned up front when Chris Baker (EMC) went off for a couple laps. After Chris was pulled in, I noted to Brian that Safeway, uncharacteristically, had not attacked yet and to stay tuned. Dan almost always attacks early in the crits, which makes for a tough race. I was hoping they were a little tired from BH, and the 80 min P12 race....Delusions of grandeur. Stepped back a few places and found Dan Martin the Taz man who looked ready for some action despite soloing about 10 laps in the P12 then attacking and getting 3rd. Got on Dan's wheel and within a half a lap he attacked and I followed (we were less than 10 laps into the race). The next 30-40 minutes were just sheer pain as we established the break and held it. Gerald Roberts from Pac. Coast caught on and we eventually pushed the gap to 20 seconds. I was really hoping we would have 4 or 5 in the break, which would have been much better odds. Did everything I could to take good pulls (it hurt bad to pull through after a couple laps). Dan is just an animal and could have dropped us both at any time, but needed us to make the break successful. I made it to either 5 or 6 to go on the lap cards and fell off on one of Dan's pulls. Tried everything I could mentally and physically down the back side to get back on, but the legs just gave out and "he’s cracked" as Mr. Ligget would say. In hindsight it might have been better to sit on when startin to hit the explode zone, but that's not how I roll. Have no idea what happened the last five laps, except John ended up 6th and DM held off the pack for the win – a well deserved one.
posted by nosajpalnud @ 5/15/2007
2 comments
2 Comments:
So that's what happened to Jason - I saw him cruise in like he had been dropped....but I was like, how did he get dropped??? His frame cracked. Yikes.
Yeah, that looked terrible hard out there with Dan. The last few laps, the field looked like they might bring him back. Then, with one to go, Vincent Gee launched a massive attack to try to catch him.....then died on the back straight. Dan just solo'd it in.
Great job out there - that looked hella vicious.
Just glad JB is ok. Our team has had some bad luck with freaky mishaps this season.
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