This has not been a paid advertisement...I just really appreciate these guys spending their time taking the great pictures of our races. It is really cool to relive the joy and pain through their eyes and cameras.
So, Wente was this weekend. Held in lovely Livermore, CA. It is named after Robert Livermore, a landowner whose holdings encompassed the valley. It is perhaps best known for its wineries.
In the early sixties, Livermore had as much area under vine as Napa Valley did at that time. However, it remained relatively unknown, while Napa rose to worldwide prominence.
Wente has long been the largest producer in Livermore, making around 300,000 cases of relatively inexpensive wine annually, much of it for export. It was first established in the valley in 1883.
To cyclists, however, Livermore and Wente together represent a great road race and criterium. The RR is held on the edge of Livermore Valley, the route includes Patterson Pass and Altamont Pass, with the finish at the top of the Carrol Rd climb. On an average day this would be a great climb, not too long or too steep. But, put it in a race (as the first climb, finish climb, and three times in between) mix in a break-away, a chase, and some hammer-head climbers and it can be BRUTAL. And on this Saturday that is exactly what happened.
Everyone was pretty mellow the first time up. A couple spurts and break attempts in the rollers, nothing stuck. Safeway, EMC, and Spine were the big players and controlled the race pretty well. An EMC rider (Dave?) rolled off the front and I went with him. We were allowed a couple hundred meters. Then I heard him yell "FLAT". I looked down and started to respond that I was OK then he was gone...oh, he flatted (see I am used to having mechanicals and assumed he meant I had a flat).
Great, now what do I do. Here I am a couple hundred meters off the front by myself. I was in the rollers so figured I would just go a little below LT, not burn myself, make the group chase (if I was doing 25+/- they would have to do better to catch me), my team could rest, I would most likely get caught, I wanted to stay off until the hill so I could climb at my pace, then Safeway could counter when I was caught. I actually opened up the lead to about 500m I would guess. And it worked just like I planned. I got swarmed at the top of the climb, but I wasn't going hard, so I just jumped in with them and off we went on lap 2. I sat in the middle and tried to get a good recovery.
Photo by Ronald Mariano
Somewhere on the second lap the Pasconator went off the front with a Spiney one (Colin I think). This allowed two of the big teams to sit back and watch the race. A couple bridge attempts but they didn't succeed. The break stayed away for 2 whole laps...nice work boys!
Then, on the fourth ascent of Carrol all hell broke loose. It was time to make the selection of the honored break chasers. I think about 12-15 guys got over the top together (out of 50 starters) and I was the last one. I looked back and there wasn't anyone behind me...to help me get back on. I hammered and caught the little group in front of me. Damn, they were Cat3s. My race was another 50m up the road...and I do mean UP. I chased through the rollers, got back on a teammates wheel, only to be dropped the next time the road turned up. It just wasn't going to happen. I was useless. And so, I rode the rest by myself, picking guys ahead to try to catch, (probably Cat5s) and rode back to registration only to find I wasn't the first guy to drop out. It had been a hard race and I guess my little foray hurt me more than I thought and was partly responsible for putting the hurt on several guys in the first lap.
The finish went something like this. Someone opened Taz's cage door and let him out. Nathan (EMC) went with him. They caught the break. Taz accelerated on a climb and Pascuzzi couldn't hang on. Colin worked his arse off to keep these three off the front. Taz and Nathan dueled on the final climb. Taz took it and put another win in Safeway's Bag!
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