Double Crit Weekend

And here's one from right in the middle...

This is the easiest race weekend of the year, because both races are 20 minute bike rides from my house. I'm actually planning on watching the 35+ once i'm done here...my race isn't 'till 3:50pm! Geez.

Yesterday: San Fernando Grand Prix

Old school race, right next to my old high school (Alemany). I remember it being the very first P/1/2/3 race i'd ever done way back when. Same course. Little has changed. Only, there were way fewer people out watching. Maybe the heat? Still, nice scene. Love the bilingual announcing. Small field of 50-60 racers. No big-time guys at all...but a good number of 5-Star guys pretty much sealed the outcome before we even started. Teammates were nice and active from the go, and I countered one of their moves with the first chance I had. Ok. Got a prime, and got lonely out there for a couple laps. It was miserably hot, and the peleton was happy to let me bake a bit. Eventually, I saw C-Walk bridge with one SDBC guy tagging along. Swell! Got into the rotation, and we had a great couple laps 'till the SDBC guy slowed. Walker was irate. He's pretty big on quantifying how many MPH the guy at fault is slowing down the break.



Bordineski and his teammate bridged, and I figured it was game over for the peleton. C-Walk, Bordine, Me...but it got brought back. I wouldn't have chased us if I was in the peleton. So...long story short. The race blew to a million bits. I thought I was mid pack at one point, and looked back and saw nothing. That psyched me out. Drilled it with the little group I was in, and in this madness, a group of 7 formed up the road. Bordine, C-Walk, and not me. Gahh. Head down, let's chase. When I flicked my elbow, there wasn't anyone left behind. OK. Head down again. I can close gaps like this in my sleep. They were maybe 100 meters up the road. And.....no. Didn't close. Did lots of this:


But...stayed in between the peleton and break 'till the end somehow. Good work, legs. I didn't win, but burned more calories than anyone else, i'm pretty sure. Ended up 8th with a prime. A teammate finished in the last $ spot. That's always good. I'm happy with the race. One side-story. After my first move was brought back, I drifted back a bit to recover. Ok. Found myself last wheel eventually, and come the 180 turn, a guy 2 wheels up from me took it real wide and opened up a slight gap. The guy who's wheel I was on, Raul Frias, whom I know pretty well, looked back...saw that it was me behind him, and sat up. The gap grew from 3 meters to 30 very quick.

Me: "Hey, what? You don't want to race?"
Him: "You remember rosebowl?"

Wow. He was referring to a time at the bowl where I sat on his wheel and didn't chase when a teammate was in the break. We were OFF THE FRONT. Amazing. I put my head down, and closed it, but wow. I'm certain that this was an isolated incident and that Raul never does anything to annoy anyone else in the peleton. Never. Especially not all the time.

Glendale today...should be a daisy.