August 20 - Winters Road Race
Results

Race Reports: Men's 35+ 1/2/3    Men's Category 4    Women's Category 4

Race photos: Mediamaverick Photography

Men's 35+ 1/2/3 report by Michael Hernandez, Team Spine

The Winters of Our Content

The Classic. The Winters Road Race appeals to us spandexers because so many different types of riders get to play major roles in it. Tragedies like Corral Hollow, er...Patterson Pass are characterized by the slim-jim climber, with wings on their feet and very little around their waistlines. But the adventuresome comedies like the Giro di Frisco and the insane McLane romps are more often than not dominated by the big burlies who can push and drive and have sprints like a storming wind.

But Winters...now, that’s a bit of entertainment where everybody has a shot at center-stage. You can be an all-arounder bombshell, like the pro-to-femmical’s winner - Webcorian Betina "Bam-Bam" Hold. Or, you can do it with a vicious sprinter’s kick, like the Master's 1/2/3 rider Billy Clark of Morgan Stanley...oh, wait a minute - that was last year. This year’s race ended differently, didn’t it? This was the year of the Spine, baby.

My gawd...that was an intense race this weekend, enit? We had a lead moto keeping us neutral out of that sleepy little town o’Winters. I should have known the race was going to be all-out war when I saw Safeway’s Jeff Poulsen in the drops, planted about two cm behind the moto’s rear wheel. He was staring at that tire like some freaked out autistic bull. You could see him snorting in frustration, nose-ring grinding against the moto’s rubber, desperate to break free. He recognized that there was a motorcycle in front of him, but I don’t think he quite understood why this THING was in front of him, inhibiting. The SECOND that moto gunned it out of the way, Poulsen was out of the saddle shooting off the front with a crack that dawned act one.

"Christ...this is gonna be a long day."

Off to the races. Every team out there was throwing down attack after attack. At points, I was on the rivet just trying to cover moves, let alone making any attacks myself. It was a free-for-all, a drunken brawl, a chaotic swirling cloud of mad grins and fierce gear shifts. Finally, the pack hit the first climbs and I was able to rest for a bit. When the only place you get to rest are the climbs, you know that’s a hard race. Of course, that didn’t mean anybody else should have the luxury - so, BOOM...my turn to attack. Safeway’s Dan Martin and a very, very solid Clif Bar rider came across with me and we eventually would be over the climb and time trialing in front of the field. EMC put in a damn fine chase and we would be brought back near the start of the second lap. BAM, instant counter attacks go off. Ron Reade actually launched a solo bid for a few miles...that’s cajones. Give the brother his 15 minutes.

On the second climb, it would be Patterson Pass winner Dario "big D" Fredrick launching off the front on the steepest section with Safeway’s BAR champ, Robert Pasco, matching his effort. This was a good move by the two climbing specialists. D and Pasco would work well off the front, but the pack was still strong and hungry, so gruppo compatto yet again. Draw the curtain and shuffle out the players again...Act II. And so, what riders survived the first 50 miles of aggression were ready to begin the final circuit.

TEXTBOOK

Big D was off the front with Safeway's Poulsen...again. They were joined by Morgan Stanley's Shawn Oliver and EMC's Rich Thurman. This was the move of the day - all four riders were big motors and the top teams were represented. The move came on the flat and fast, exposed eastern side of the course. The lead grew as the pack stopped for breath...but the pause would not last for long. No rest for the weary. Morgan Stanley had two riders setting a wicked little chasing tempo even though they had a rider up in the break. Hmm...I disagree, but each must write their own destiny.

The break of four starts the climbing, and D is still off the front and we Spinsters are happy and anticipating champagne at the finish. Textbook for us, really - until...right at the feedzone we see Dario on the side of the road getting a wheel change. NO!

Big D was one of the many riders victimized by some cackling hayseed's tack-throwing fit. In the immortal words of Rodney King, “why can’t we all just get along?”

Now we Spineys are in a bad place. The break is up the road without us represented and we don’t have much real estate left in the race. Tragedy is awaiting us if we don’t strike immediately - with everything. This was a moment that needed no strategy or guidance. Suffer. Just suffer. Let the pain cascade over you, sink into you. Do everything you can to drive up those wicked Winters hills at blood pounding speed. There is no end to the pain, keep pushing up those climbs. Breathe...round pedalstrokes....breathe again, baby. Finally, the last 100 meters of the nastiest pitch on the entire climb. Up, up...don’t stop. Make it - MAKE IT! As we crest the top, there are only four riders left standing to play out the final scene of our little drama - three Spines vs one Safeway. I like those odds.

Kellin Cooper takes the win Photo by Mediamaverick Photography

But first, we’ve got to get to the finish. I don’t know how many miles it is from that damn climb to the finish line...but it seems an eternity when you’re running from a hungry pack. We had the Kellin (Kellin Cooper to you), Fonseca, and me for the Spine Nation. Sitting on and getting the deserved and righteous free ride to the line was none other than Super-Safeway rider, Dan “caffeinated Canuck” Martin.

Complete commitment. There was no other reality than each turn at the front, driving towards the line. Yes, the Safeway rider was getting a free ride, but that would be dealt with in due time. For now, we had to be a three-man TTT, acting in complete harmony, to get away from the chasing pack and find the glory that awaited us at the finish line.

Two kilometers to go...a look back, - no pack in site. RELIEF! We’ve made it and won’t get swamped at the finish. It’s time to signal the curtain on this play. We take turns attacking the Safeway rider. Martin is a beast. He marks the first attack easily. The second he’s on with more strength than I would have thought. Again, again, AGAIN we hit him. He’s possessed. I love it. What courage!

Finally, the Kellin places the dagger in poor Martin’s chest. Trust me folks, it was done gently and with respect. Martin was a worthy foe. Fonseca scoots off for second, but Martin deserves the final spot on the podium and I step aside in respect. What a day.

Men's Category 4 report by Raymond Cogan, SquadraOvest

This is the second time I've done the Winters Road Race, the first time being last season when I crashed on the second lap on the tricky left hand turn on the descent. On that day, I had to brake to avoid a rider taking a bad line and ended up in the gravel. With this in mind, my number one goal on this day was to keep the rubber side down while goal number two was to get a Squadra rider on the podium.

I came into this race with a little bit of form and plenty of miles in the legs so I liked my chances going in. The first lap was simple enough with the occasional, half-hearted suicide attack which always seems to mark the beginning of any Cat 4 race. Unfortunately, one of my strongest teammates flatted at mile three so our team was already handicapped before the race even started. The pace up climb number one was frisky, but manageable. I stayed toward the front and out of trouble and managed to avoid the tacks which, apparently, had been tossed on the road by a disgruntled local who was a bit put off by a couple minute traffic delay. Toward the top of the climb, a few riders jumped near the crest, but I thought nothing of it since this was the beginning of a 72 mile race. However, once on the descent, this "non-threatening break" grew to eight riders and contained some of the strongest riders in the field from Webcor, Roaring Mouse, and Bollo. Uh-oh, maybe I misjudged this one. Since our team had numbers, we organized at the front for a chase. With some great work by our team and some help by a few riders from St. Bikes, we had it reeled in after about 10 miles. Strangely, no one attacked the catch and we were back to negative racing.

The climb on lap two was slightly more difficult for me because I went from fifth wheel to 35th wheel in what seemed like the blink of an eye as I slowed to collect a bottle in the feedzone while half the field attacked. You just have to love Cat 4 etiquette in the bunch. I worked hard to regain position on this trip though since I knew it was possible that a select group might form that had a chance to stay away. Sure enough, by the time the descent came around I found myself in a small group of five riders. However, this group of riders seemed more content to shout and point fingers than do any work and before we knew it, our "select group" with 20 seconds turned into the entire pack again. Oh well. A few half hearted attacks happened on the flats, especially from Webcor, but other riders seemed willing to chase now so I just sat in and conserved for the final assault on the climb.

Since I grabbed water on the last lap, I was set to go on the third lap and could skip the feedzone. Not surprisingly, the pace was hot from the bottom of the rollers all the way through the beginning of the climb and just got faster from there. Several attacks went off right from the start and I found myself gapped almost immediately. It was now or never time though, and I was able to burn a match, jump 80 feet and catch the attackers. Close to the top of the climb now, our group is only five riders and we have a significant gap as we really drilled this one. The descent turns this number to three and I know that if we work together the size of the gap means we have a chance. However, as usual, the break takes a few too many moments to work itself out and organize and, eventually, our three man break turns back to five and then to 10 and then to 18. Oh well, better than nothing. Nine of us worked hard in this group and managed to fend off the peloton through to the end.

Approaching the finishing sprint, I made sure to stay near the front so I could respond to the first jump and latch on. Right before the quick left/right hand turn near the finish, the jump came and I was ready. Unfortunately, the guy who jumped to my left jumped right into my front wheel and almost took me down. I was rubbing wheel to wheel with this guy for a few seconds, and it's a miracle that I didn't go down as I concentrated hard on turning into him rather then away. I was a little disappointed that I was coasting here now while everyone else was sprinting, but once detached, I managed to reintegrate and grab sixth place. Oh well, one more point toward upgrade. It's better than flatting out like I did at my last race. University Road Race here I come!

Women's Category 4 report by Andrea Glassberg, SquadraOvest

This one was a super fun race and it was great to be out there racing with so many Squadra women. Congrats to everyone for coming out, and especially to Susan Sall for doing so well in her first race.

First lap started out super slow until we got passed by the pros and it picked up a little. First time up the hill was managable. I stayed at the front and crested in first so that I could take the descent at my pace. One of the pros had just crashed and there were support people all over the road so the descent was slow and basically neutral. At the bottom a group of nine formed, which quickly grew to 12. Carrie Edwards and I made it two Squadras to balance out the two Velo Bellas, and two Velo Girls. We all worked really really well together and ran a rotating paceline almost all the way to the finish (first time around) when we were caught by a group of six to eight. This was a surprise, since we had been working so well together. As soon as the group got larger, things fell apart, people stopped pulling through, and it was pretty clear that the chase group had burned all of its matches catching us.

Second time up the climb we dropped everyone from the chase. One of the really strong Velo Bellas pulled the whole way and I just sat on her wheel with Carrie next to me most of the way. At the bottom of the descent I was in a trio, which grew to six when Carrie and two others caught on. We got into a pretty good rhythm and the rotating paceline got started again. It was clear that the Velo Bellas were strong--almost every time they got to the front, whoever was behind had trouble pulling through. We were all invested in staying together and making it work, since we knew we had the top six spots sewn up if we could stay away. We all worked hard to keep the paceline going. At one point I turned to Carrie and told her that this was her race. She was smart and conserved energy letting the rest of us close the gaps that the velo bellas kept forming when they went to the front.

I didn't know the course well enough to know exactly where the finish was but I looked down at my odometer and saw that it read 47.7. Thinking that we had less than one kilometer to go, and knowing that I had no sprint, I jumped as hard as I could, hoping that Carrie was on me and would be the only one able to go with me. What I didn't realize was that we were still about a mile from the finish. It didn't work anyway, because everyone followed. Carrie then jumped about 150 meters from the finish. Both Velo Bellas were just too strong and they came around Carrie, with me eating their dust.

This was one of those races where everything worked--I've never seen the 4's work together so well and it was great fun to be a part of it. Now I just need to figure out how to sprint.

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.