Napa Criterium

Catching up on this blog...here's the report I did for our internal team forum...



The day in reverse.

7pm+: Richmond --> Berkeley --> Richmond. Blasting Social Distortion from Aaron's 64 Malibu SS to pick up a Chicago style pizza from Zachary's.

4pm: Parking lot in Napa. Drinking beers under the tent while watching the P/1/2 race. Lombardi guy killed it solo.

3pm: Same spot, same beers. Heckling the Women's P/1/2.

2pm: Dino and I wondering the streets of Napa in 90 in search of beer. Almost died of heat exhaustion and thirst.

1pm: 99 degrees. Cat 3 race was on. Dino, Aaron, Gabe, Chris and me. Plan was to get Aaron in a break and then Chris if Aaron's got caught. Coach Jan appeared on the sidelines during our race and was barking orders. Aaron got in a group of about 5 that was off the front. Jan told me to bridge and I did. He then sent Chris up too. We stayed away for about 15 laps, while Gabe and Dino controlled the main group. Announcer was all over us, talking about how we were executing great team tactics. The break was just a bit lazy and eventually died. One guy got away with 3 to go and held it to the line. Aaron took 8th, me 10th, Dino 12th and the rest of us just behind.

9:40am" 90some degrees. Masters 3/4. Dino, Aaron, Eric C. I sat at crash corner and watched the carnage...thinking "Do I really want to race today?" All three of our guys got caught behind a crash. Dino was able to pull Aaron back to the main group, but Clauss (on his race #2 of the day) didn't make that move and pulled out. I believe Aaron was top 10 (7th?) and Dino just behind at 12th. Aaron also snatched up a prime. Both saying that this short course was hell and they weren't sure if they had anything left for the cat 3 race.

8am: We arrived towards the end of the Cat 4 race...last 7 laps and saw 7 crashes (one per lap). Eric and Matthew were looking good and riding strong. I forget, but pretty sure Matthew got 7th? Eric?


One hell of a course. 1/2 mile total. 6 turns and one curve. Turn 6 was off-camber and about 160 degrees (this is where the most crashes took place). It was a very tough course...basically 1 minute laps that included two short 30mph straights and a 3 mph section (guessing). But it was fun.