A View from the Sidelines
by Shawn Mehaffey

To visualize the Morgan Hill Grand Prix, visualize a figure-8 course that has a mixture of downtown businesses and residential housing along with a wicked hill that's like Los Gatos' Cat's Hill, only the downhill is immediate and steep.  I purposely made the 100-mile round trip just to see the event since it hadn't taken place in 10 years.

The promoter did a fantastic job: a safe course, lots of booths (especially Specialized), good sound system and announcers, a podium, and plenty of places to sit down and eat lunch while the peloton raced by every couple of minutes.  Everyone was very friendly and seemed to welcome racers and fans alike.

I watched the Women's 1/2/3 race, the men's Pro/1/2 race, and the Fat Boy mtb crit.  The hill allowed breakaways to form, get absorbed and reform, making the racing very entertaining.  I'd recommend this for anyone looking to race or just enjoy some free entertainment in a nice setting.

Men’s Elite 3 race
By Richard Brockie

I am always a little leery of scheduling another commitment later on a race day. There is an element of risk involved in jockeying for position at 35 mph in a criterium, but it is a risk we are willing to take or we wouldn’t be there. I know of riders whose Significant Others impose a moratorium on racing prior to an important event such as a family holiday.

Which brings us to the reinstated Morgan Hill Grand Prix and the narrow, one-lane bridge. Prior to the event there were photographs of the bridge before and after the Webcor repair floating around various team email lists. The main worry was the constrictive effect of the width - people had visions of Snelling-like funnel effects prior to the hill.

A quick inspection of the race map on the website suggested otherwise, the road looked like it would be kept narrow from the previous corner by the Expo and so it proved. What was less easy to judge was how hard the hill would be. There were the inevitable comparisons to Cat's Hill, but I will not make that comparison here. I last did Cat's Hill as a 4, racing as a 3 is a different experience.

I found the first 3/4 of the hill ok, but the final dig required to get to the top was leg-sapping. Early on, I was able to maintain position up the hill, but as the race progressed, I began to slip places towards the top.

Of course, there were the added obstacles of people with mechanical problems. When something goes wrong on that hill, people stop dead. I had a couple of "almost" incidents, narrowly avoiding hitting stalled riders. The one time I got myself into a good position in the bunch the chain skipped at the rear (I think I was between gears) and it was all I could do to crest the hill without stopping. I became a moving blockage myself which annoyed the guys behind me and lost me around 20 spots in the space of 8 seconds or so.

The final few times up the hill were a matter of survival. Both for me, just hanging on, and for the solo rider off the front. We both made it in our own way. One rider didn't, blowing a tyre and crashing onto the median in turn 4 on the final lap. I rolled in towards the back of the bunch, happy to have finished, but disappointed that I wasn't stronger. The fallen rider was still down, but being tended to as we passed on the warm-down lap.

I like the ambience of downtown criteriums and Morgan Hill was no exception. The spectators, the race announcer and the ability to buy a coffee and hang out and watch the other groups race make it a nice day out. From the comments at the beginning of the Pro/1/2 race the mayor seems determined to make it an annual event - I hope so.

I only just made my afternoon commitment as on the way home from Morgan Hill, a driver ran a red light, "t-boned" me and wrote off my car.

Women’s Pro/1/2/3 race
By Erik Salander

When the race announcer listed off the names of the Olympians and National Champions in the field, it was clear this would be an exciting race.  I was stationed on the Specialized Hill, just beyond the Webcor bridge, which was the topic of many race club’s mailing lists during the week.    The pack was intact the first time up the hill, lead by Kim Cunningham (Morgan Stanley/Specialized), Karen Brems (Webcor) and Laura Charameda (unattached),

On the next lap, Lauren Franges (Victory Brewing/Specialized) and Cat Malone (Webcor)  created a small separation.  Together, they would be off the front for the next 6 laps, usually with a gap of about 10 seconds.  Most times up the hill, six other Webcor racers would be very near the front of the group, holding back the group for Malone.  The Webcor women certainly had the numbers in their favor throughout the race.

On the 9^th lap, the pack was back together and Karen Brems accelerated hard over the top of the hill while her teammate, Christine Thorburn (Webcor) eased at the front.  This didn’t yield any substantial results as the field was  together the next time over the hill.

However, on the 11^th lap, Felicia Greer (Webcor), Lauren Franges, Cindy Carrol (Dewars) and Kristen Drumm (Morgan Stanley/Specialized) put in a solid attack over the climb.  The pack was strung out and the profanities were flying!  This resulted in 5 riders getting a small gap for the next couple laps.

Then somewhere shortly after the hill, we heard the race announcer hollering that Christine Thorburn had attacked the field.  On the 14^th time coming into the hill, Thorburn had a 13 second gap on the field.  Gina Grain (Victory Brewing/Specialized) powered up and over the climb in her big ring, giving chase and looking very strong.

On the next lap, Gina Grain attacked again, this time at the bottom of the climb.  But with Karen Brems glued to her wheel, she lost steam toward the top of the climb.  All the while, Thorburn maintained her 12-14 second gap.

On the final lap, the chasers were within 7 seconds of Thorburn at the base of the climb but it wasn’t enough to reel in the 2004 Olympian.  In a strong sprint, Gina Grain held off Karen Brems as they finished second and third.  Laura Charameda and Carmen D’Alusio (Webcor) completed the podium. 

Men’s Pro 1/2 race
By Erik Salander

Bernard Van Ulden (Webcor) did the pacesetting in the early laps.  Then on the 5^th lap, David Zabriskie (CSC) flew off the front of the field.  However, over the next 3 laps Zabriskie could build only a 10-15 second cushion.  A group of six chasers formed.  And on the 10^th lap, Hayden Godfrey (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) bridged from the chasers up to Zabriskie.

The next time around, the chasers had grown to eight riders, among them David Clinger (Webcor), John Kelly (Webcor), Michael Hutchinson (Team Spine) and Jackson Stewart (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada).  About 5 laps later, the chasers would catch up to Godfrey and Zabriskie.

Those ten were to stay together for only 3 laps, when Zabriskie attacked again on the 19^th lap.  At the base of the climb on the 20^th lap, Zabriskie had a 10 second advantage over the nine chasers and 45 seconds over the peloton.

Due to David Clinger pushing hard up the hill, the group of nine chasers fell to seven.  Then a couple laps later, again with Clinger hammering, the chase group dropped to six.  On the 25^th lap, Hayden Godfrey left the chasers behind and tried to run down Zabriskie.  Godfrey was to get no closer than within 7 seconds of Zabriskie.

And with two and half laps to go, Zabriskie was 20 seconds ahead of Godfrey, who was followed by Clinger, Stewart, Kelly, Hutchison and Nathan Miller (Monex).  Over the next two laps, Zabriskie extended his lead over Godfrey, with the five chasers 15 seconds behind Godfrey and the pack another 10 seconds back. 

In the end, Zabriskie got the hard-earned victory by soloing off the front the last 11 laps. Godfrey held on for second and his teammate, Jackson Stewart, went around Clinger in the final meters.  Clinger’s teammate, John Kelly, rounded out the podium. 

This text is a spacer to fix a browser compatibility issue with netscape and safari. This text is a spacer to fix a browser compatibility issue with netscape and safari.