Giro di San Francisco

Giro di San Francisco
Teammates: Aaron, Carmi, Dino, Chris, Dan, Gabe, Murat
Place: 2nd

I hopped on my bike this morning around 9:30am and excitedly rolled down to the course. Our Cat 3 race was at 2:10pm, but I wanted to watch the other races and hang out with the team.

We set our tent up at turn 1 (Battery & Green), which was the perfect spot...view of the finish line straight, turn 1 and straight/turn 2 and then partial viewing of straight 3 and 4. We planned to camp out at this spot from beginning till the end, so we had plenty of food/beer/soda and shade to keep everyone happy.

The course:
6-turns, a 2-block uphill section (up Vallejo from Front St.), then a long (barely) downhill, 2-fairly quick right turns and then a decent length drag to the finish.


The Race:
I felt great today and with 7 strong teammates on my side, I knew it was going to be a great day. I was able to carry speed up the hill very easily by staying on the outside and avoiding the right-turn "pinch" that seemed to happen most laps. We were looking to throw either Carmi or Aaron into a mid-race breakaway and if that failed then it was up to me and Dino to finish it off in the sprint. With about 4 or 3 to go I felt a tug on my shorts...someone's shifter was caught up in my spandex. I held my line and we separated...phew!

My shorts ripped. :-(

Not long after that I heard the horrible sound of carbon fiber bikes hitting the pavement. That crash took out a couple of our guys, but they were ok.

Oh...1 guy slipped off of the front with about 5 or 6 laps to go...at this point he was still off.

Fast-forward to the final lap.

I found myself on the front during the last lap heading down Sansome Street. Not the ideal position for me, but I had to make do. I looked back to see if Dino or any of my army were on my wheel. If they were there, I would have sprinted early hoping for them to come around and take either the win or the field sprint for 2nd. No dice. Now what? I was in a bad spot. I kept an easy pace until close to the 5th turn...then I picked it up a bit and carried that speed through turns 5 and 6...go time! I hit it and I hit it hard. I could see the solo guy dying and was closing in on him, but it wasn't enough. His move was great and he pulled it off. I was just happy to get another podium and more points towards my upgrade.

Next week is the Benicia Crit and then the following week is the season finale, The San Francisco Twilight Criterium.

Here are a few pictures from today:

Our tent

Most of the Cat 3 squad (post-race)

Booyah!