McLane Pacific Gran Prix Criterium
2nd Place!McLane Pacific G.P. Criterium
Date: 3/4/06
Course: .8-mile technical course, 25 laps/ 46 min, downtown Merced
Category: Elite 4
Field: 100 starters
Teammate: Scott and Jeff (Channing rode solo in the 3’s)
Place: 2nd/ 26mph avg speed
Results: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2006/mar06/mclane06/mclane061
Well the 2006 road season has officially started for me and it’s off to a great start. I was excited to race with a number of my teammates and it was a big weekend for me. It was my first time doing 2 big races back to back and I thought I would fare well but with the travel and hotel rooms, you can do all the right things and still have a bad race. This was the first race on the year for me, and first races are a shock to the system if you haven’t been. …well….racing. I went into the weekend hoping to leave Merced in one piece and with some upgrade points. I came home with some and a podium spot to boot!
Channing and I drove down on Friday and had plenty of time to check in, get in a solid “opener” on the rollers and then go have some kick ass carnetias for dinner/ take it easy/ stretch/ crash.
With Jeff and Scott in my race, I was confident that if we could stay together, we could make something happen. We stayed together for most of the race. All of us took pulls on the front when the group swarmed and kept it strung out and the pace high. The Fusion jersey was getting face time on the pointy end of the race. I was pleased, great teamwork for sure. With about 10 laps to go, a guy next to me gets a flat and starts to pull over but fell. Then the field split. I was in the top 10 and the guys in front of me turned it up a notch, while we continued on, Scott had gotten stuck behind the crash and was chasing.
With 2 laps to go, Jeff and I were together and I asked him to drill it from under the Red Bull arch as far to the finish as possible, if he felt good. He responded “ya!” So on the bell lap, into the first turn, we’re together under the arch and he did just that. We got to about 400+ meters from the finish and a guy attacked on the left. I glanced over to see Ben from Squadra coming up on my right side. I got squeezed from the left and right onto the botts dots. With my eyes bouncing all over the place, I lost some momentum onto the finish straight. Then going around Ben, I sprinted as hard as I could, staying on top of the gear towards the end, throwing my bike across the line with a max HR of 194…. I feel I did well in my first race of 2006 and an “A” priority race… Best though, is the team rode well for only having 3 guys out of a 100. We took charge quite a bit and made it a Fusion race for sure. Big up to Scott and Jeff (who got a prime) they rode hard and really helped me get on the podium.
After Channing’s, race we all had lunch and rode in Merced for an hour (Easy). Later we met up with Tony, Eric, and Brian P. for a nice pasta dinner downtown. Then back to the hotel and rest up for the road race on Sunday…
….To be Cont………….
Channing and I drove down on Friday and had plenty of time to check in, get in a solid “opener” on the rollers and then go have some kick ass carnetias for dinner/ take it easy/ stretch/ crash.
With Jeff and Scott in my race, I was confident that if we could stay together, we could make something happen. We stayed together for most of the race. All of us took pulls on the front when the group swarmed and kept it strung out and the pace high. The Fusion jersey was getting face time on the pointy end of the race. I was pleased, great teamwork for sure. With about 10 laps to go, a guy next to me gets a flat and starts to pull over but fell. Then the field split. I was in the top 10 and the guys in front of me turned it up a notch, while we continued on, Scott had gotten stuck behind the crash and was chasing.
With 2 laps to go, Jeff and I were together and I asked him to drill it from under the Red Bull arch as far to the finish as possible, if he felt good. He responded “ya!” So on the bell lap, into the first turn, we’re together under the arch and he did just that. We got to about 400+ meters from the finish and a guy attacked on the left. I glanced over to see Ben from Squadra coming up on my right side. I got squeezed from the left and right onto the botts dots. With my eyes bouncing all over the place, I lost some momentum onto the finish straight. Then going around Ben, I sprinted as hard as I could, staying on top of the gear towards the end, throwing my bike across the line with a max HR of 194…. I feel I did well in my first race of 2006 and an “A” priority race… Best though, is the team rode well for only having 3 guys out of a 100. We took charge quite a bit and made it a Fusion race for sure. Big up to Scott and Jeff (who got a prime) they rode hard and really helped me get on the podium.
After Channing’s, race we all had lunch and rode in Merced for an hour (Easy). Later we met up with Tony, Eric, and Brian P. for a nice pasta dinner downtown. Then back to the hotel and rest up for the road race on Sunday…
….To be Cont………….
posted by Nick at 00:10
3 Comments:
nice!
<br>
good stuff -channing
good stuff -channing
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