Men’s Elite 5 race
By Paul Mitchell

If a wet course with tight turns and a dozen manhole covers sounds like fun to you, then try the first race of the day at the Stockton Criterium.

This race took off about 20 minutes late as crews were still trying to get out cones and hay bails.  The smart riders had already braved the drizzling rain to take a few laps around the course and determined some good lines through the eight corners - and it seemed like these riders were the ones that led the group through the first few laps, keeping the race safe and relatively crash-free.

This course had a decent straightaway along the start/finish line, leading into a pair of  90 degree right-handers, a sharp left with littering of manhole covers and some strange metal grid in the road, then a wide right hand turn, another sharper right hand turn, a left hand turn onto what seemed to be a one-lane road, and then two rights leading into the straightaway.  This may sound confusing, but just be grateful that I didn't highlight every manhole cover and pothole that made the corners even trickier - not to mention the strange littering of metal and bumps, and even a big planter box, along the middle and right hand side of the straightway.

During the race you could just watch the rear wheels popping around over the bots dots and slipping out every time rubber-meets-manhole cover. There were several close saves and more than once I had to check my rear tire because I thought I must be flatting.  Everyone who stayed upright should have received a prize.

But, let's get to the racing.  From the start the group had a decent pace - approx 24 mph which was a healthy clip given a turn nearly every block.  My team did a good job staying near the front, but I got stuck more mid-rear pack.  The only place where you could really advance was on the straightaway where the teams would usually sit up a bit and cat-and-mouse for who was going to do the pulling for the next lap.

After a few laps I used the straightaway to shoot up to the front and lead for about a lap.  (As an interesting side note, another guy that joined me along the middle of the straight away actually got airborne doing a bunny hop off one of the bumps as we made our way forward.) Leading was much better than following, but on the second time around they did a prime that put four guys off the front while the rest of the group kept an even pace and let them fight it out.  With the prime completed a teammate of mine led us back up to three of the four from the break, while a single AltoVelo rider stayed away.  It seemed like an innocent break - even one of his own teammates rotated through in the chase - so I figured the group would just let him roast out there for a while, but that he wasn't a real threat.

After a couple laps in the front of the race I decided to get back tucked into the group for some respite, but this was a mistake.  Once two riders got in front of me, I found myself having to fight for position in each corner, and being the nice guy that I am, I opened spots until about 15 riders had passed by me.  It was only when I stopped seeing riders come up on either side that I realized I had been shot to the very back of what was now the front group in a peloton that had been split during that prime lap.

Just 50 meters behind I could see half the field struggling to catch back on, but it wasn't meant to be.

So, now at the back of the chase group, and with one rider escaped off the front, I played a game of yo-yoing through the corners and getting to the straightaway with hopes of shooting up to the front, but finding myself with a pack unwilling to just sit up and little gas to make the move on my own.  To make matters worse, a headwind on that section had picked up and I was just struggling to keep up with all the accelerations as the riders on the front - led by my team - worked to try and reel in the lone leader.

My final hope was that we would catch this guy, and then finally the group would sit up on the straightaway, allowing me to get out of this trap at the rear.  But, as the laps counted down the guy was staying 20 or so seconds away and it became a race for second place.

As a consolation prize, our designated sprinter took the final sprint for second thanks not only to some strong legs, but also some great teamwork from those members that had managed to hold their position at the front.

I didn't make it to the 35+ race, in part because I was soaking wet and didn't want to sit around for a couple hours.  In talking to other teammates the following day I found that the course dried up nicely for the later races, the pace was high, and the breakaway was king.

15-16 Year Olds out sprint 17-18 Year Olds
By John Elgart

15 year old Brian Larsen (SGW) led a sweep by the younger riders in the 15-18 Junior Race at the Stockton Waterfront Criterium.

As part of the Norcal Junior Points Series competition, Stockton drew a fields of 30 riders to both the 15-18 and the under 15 races. Lance Wolfsmith (Wolfpack) won the younger group in a solo break.

Larsen’s win came with help from his Sacramento Golden Wheelman teammate, 15 year old David Vuilleumier.

“I must have been 15^th out of the final corner,” noted Bryan. “But I caught David’s wheel at 300 meters, then jumped up the left hand side of the road at 200 meters. David sat up and swept my wheel, so I was clear.”

“I have asthma, and I was holding my breath for the last 200 meters,” Larsen noted.

Second place was taken by Davis Bicycle Club’s Alex Wick, who is the current points leader in 15-16, while Villeumier held on for 3^rd.

In the 17-18 division, the top placing (but 4^th across the line after the 15-16’s) was taken by Hicham Ennouri (CVC). A native of France, Hicham has recently moved with his parents to Fresno where they are opening a French restaurant. “Cycling is good in California,” Hicham noted, who has yet to train in Fresno in the summertime.

In the 10-14 Junior race 12 year old Lance Wolfsmith soloed to victory after he escaped the field with Joel Schaffer and David Tisdell (Los Gatos). When Tisdell came out of his pedal,  “suddenly I had a gap,” Wolfsmith noted. “So I went harder. It was really hard going into the wind on the straightaway.”

In his first year of “serious” racing, Wolfsmith is leading the Junior Points Standings in his category.

Second place was taken by Tisdell, while Schaffer took 3^rd.

14 and under race
By Lily Gordis, age 13

Place: 1st girl, 4th overall
Field: 29
Teammates: none

I arrived knowing I had to win if I wanted to take the lead in the Junior Points Series.  I warmed up for about 40 minutes on the stationary trainer and felt pretty good.  I found out that the race had been shortened which was a two-sided thing for me. The shorter the race, the less time to thin the field. But, on the other hand, I wouldn't be laped by all the older kids...

I had trouble clipping in at the start and I had to chase up to the first group. Lance "Armstrong" Wolfsmith (Wolfpak) broke away immediately and Daniel Tisdell (LGBRC) was in between . The 2 girls I needed to beat were right there and I wanted to catch Daniel, so I put in a big effort and caught him.  Both girls were dropped at that point. The rest of the race I just tried to keep the pace high so they wouldn't catch us.  On the last lap I lapped the 2 girls and followed attacks from Daniel and Joel Shaffer (Alto Velo). They dropped me in  their sprint and I got 4th overall.

Junior 15-18 race
By Nichol-B Jerabek, age 16

Finish: 8th in the 15/16's, 13th overall
Field: 30
Teammates: Lars, Tyler, Charles, Rajiv, JP, Jordan, Ye, John, Navin

When I arrived at the course, there was pretty heavy overcast and the roads were wet and damp.  I checked in, I had already pre-registered, and saw JP.  We decided to walk the course and check out all the corners.  I highly suggest this to everybody.  It was really useful because there were a couple of corners where the road goes from four lanes down to two. The Cat 4's were racing, and we watched what lines they were taking through the corners. It also helped me to know which way winds were coming from, where the longest straight-aways were, and where there were potholes.  Anyways, after we viewed the course we went back to the parking lot where we set up our trainers.  I spun for about twenty minutes.  I was going to go to the start line when we were told that the 13/14's and 15/18's were riding in different races and that each race would only be twenty minutes long.  This disappointed me, but I figured at least I could warm-up more.  After twenty minutes, we went to the starting line.

The start did not seem as fast as McLane, which was good because I was able to hold on.  I started towards the back, which was a problem throughout the race because riders kept falling off and moving around, so I fell off with them.  However, I did not let myself fall back more than five to ten feet before I would sprint and grab back on. Luckily this did not happen too much.  About halfway into the race a rider went down in the S corner on the back side, but was back in the race the next lap.  Since I was towards the back, I could not see if anyone was attacking, so up until the second to last lap, nothing really happened except for an occasional increase and decrease in speed.  On the second to last lap, Rajiv went down on a wide corner, but did not seem to be too banged up.  On the long front stretch, the pack really started picking it up.  I positioned myself just right on the last corner and was able to use that little bit of momentum to help carry me through.  I started passing quite a few people, but I forgot how long the final stretch to the finish was.  I sat down and just kept pedaling until just before the finish line.

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