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The Cherry Pie Criteriums Date: 2/8/04 Conditions: Sunny, mild, with a brisk wind that grew throughout the day. Course: 1 mile loop with a surprisingly tough 250 meter finishing hill. Apparently, victory tastes like Cherry Pie. Four spandex clad horsemen hopped the caffeine express Sunday morning to drive over the hill to the Cherry Pie criteriums in Napa. The early bird races are over and now that riders have 3 or 4 races under their belts, it appears that the Cherry Pie is the official kick-off to the NorCal season. Yup, the herds were running wild this weekend. Rick Hathaway, Ricardo Bulissimo, Max Miller and I piled in to the van at 4:30 in the damn morning to make the obscenely early 8:35am Men's 5 crit start. We arrived right on time and were early enough for me to do a little spectating of the Junior's criterium. |
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As Max, the Hath, and Bullisimo went about getting warmed up for their race, I strolled over to the start area and took in the junior's field. The first thing I noticed about the junior's field was the size...well over 30 riders (probably way more). However, one rider missing was Derek Gossi - |
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| The HUGE junior's field takes the uphill 180 degree turn | Joe Little suffering for all he's worth | Derek Gossi gives game chase after missing the start | Nate Sowle put in a solid time trialing effort on the day | |
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after fiddling with his bike at the car with his dad, Derek rolled up
to the start about a minute after the field had rocketed off the line.
Ouch. He would give a game chase for the entire 30 minute crit,
getting in an excellent bit of training, that's for sure.
Giving themselves less of a challenge and actually starting the race with the other competitors, Joe Little and Nate Sowle will attest to the second thing I noticed about the junior's field...namely, that most of the entrants had more facial hair than me and were ridiculously FAST! Not quite warmed up and still learning the intricacies of pack-riding, Nate would fall off the pace 3 laps in to a very fast race. However, always the fighter, Nate would find himself a strong time trailing rhythm and keep the lead pack within sight. Great workout. Joe, on the other hand, would use his experience to keep him tight in the lead group of 15 riders until about 5 laps to go, when even he would succumb to the constant accelerations up the finishing hill.
The rest of the course is quite exposed and fast - but there is a nasty headwind section right before the finishing hill...a place where riders were blowing gaskets left and right. There was also some road damage on a couple of the corners and on one downhill stretch. It made for sketchy riding if the pack wasn't in the mood to be smooth. Be that at is may, I didn't hear of any crashes in the other events and there was only one in my race...caused by a guy's mistake and not the course. And so, when Joe Little came off of the blistering pace of the lead pack in the Juniors, there was no hiding from the elements for a solo, 100 pound rider. He would fade back to the group that Nate was towing along...like a plowing steam locomotive with passenger cars and caboose attached. These riders would finish off the race together and sprint it out in the end. Like Clockwork Immediately after the Junior's event was the Men's 5
race. Our riders had very specific instructions and carried them out
to perfection. We were convinced that the group would be animated and
strong enough to chase down all attacks in the short 30 minute race.
So, the Wheelmen were asked to keep good position in the pack This image was captured from some video: it shows how the brothers were just perfectly placed with Max, Hath, and Bulissimo right where they needed to be. The race went according to plan and our riders held solid position and looked very, very comfortable. With three laps to go, there were a couple of riders with a tenuous, but uncomfortable, couple seconds gap on the peloton. To insure the group sprint, our man Maximus could contain himself no longer and went to the front...putting in a 27 mph pull on the hardest, windiest section of the race to bring back the leading duo. It was a decisive effort and with 2 laps to go, the pack was all together and I yelled out the final instruction - 'that's enough work Max...now, don't leave the top 10!' - it was easy as pie for our young rider. Smoothly pulling off the front, he would take good position in the top 5 and never relinquish it. Both Max and the Hath were excellently positioned as
the pace went ballistic in the final half lap. I told our men that
they could count on the inexperience and enthusiasm of the riders in
this race...but, they were also warned of their strength! The Men's 5
events are the breeding grounds for mutants of incredible
physiologies, but who don't know the complicated strategies of bike
racing. Our men capitalized on this phenomenon. As the pace ratcheted
up and the field began to splinter, Max and Hath were well positioned,
but Bulissimo was just a few riders too far back and would see the
lead group gallop away from him. It was a moment of necessity.
With everything he had, a violent effort usually saved for a finale - Bulis would have to throw himself out into the wind and push with all his power to bridge up to the leading group of riders...just to have the chance to do it again for the finishing kick. He would make it - barely. But the bridging would cost him and there would be little in the reserves for the uphill sprint. But Hath and Max would be ready - ready to dive through the final corner and hurl themselves up to that finishing line. Still new to the sport, Max would take the difficult path and move to the outside of the line of riders through the final corner. And though the inexperienced move would cost him a bit of energy, it also allowed him to take the corner at his own speed and carry his momentum into one decisive burst of raw power. With full commitment and admirable single-mindedness, our man would launch himself to the finish line. He would never look back and when he reached the line, he would show the crowd a clean set of wheels - winning the race by bike-lengths. Hathaway would be right in the middle of a powerful pack sprint, finishing a solid 14th and Bulissimo would recover valiantly only a couple of places behind. What an excellent performance by our Wheelmen! But
the day was not over for some.
Joining Gossi would be The Hath and signore
Bulissimo. Hath would, again, be superbly positioned throughout the
race. He definitely knows how to handle his bike in a snarling pack.
But, nutrition would be his enemy and with a few laps to go he would
fall off the ever increasing pace - yet have enough grit to ride in
solo f In my race, there was a 6 rider break that I...shamefully, did not make. I had won the first prime of the day (a couple of bottles of wine from Napa - I mean come on, I had to win it!) and, I'll admit, I was feeling pretty good. The race was very aggressive, with lots of teams launching riders off the front to make the winning break. Without teammates, I was forced to watch and best judge which attacks had the best chance of success. I was vigilant, following many, many attacks out of the field - but I just plain missed the winning move. How incredibly frustrating! I would attack again and again to attempt to bridge up to the winning break-away, but to no avail. The good of the race was that I definitely felt as though I was one of the strongest riders out there. The bad was that I missed the winning move. FRUSTRATION! Overall, it was a great day of camaraderie and good old-fashioned bike racing. I really look forward to the Reno races coming up on the calendar and hope to see every one of you at them. Just think, races that we don't have to drive hundreds of miles to participate in! See you there! michael |
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This page was last updated 04/20/2005 |
throughout the race, but stay out of the wind and put all of their
energies into the sprint finish.
