The Boys in Breakaways at Redlands Classic!

See a recap of Stages One and Three where Colin and Roman rode in big breakaways. 

Onboard with Steve - Landpark Criterium

The last two laps of Landpark Criterium: every rider has a part to play, even one out of shape like me. Just happy I can make some kind of contribution to the team!

Onboard with Eric Riggs - Landpark Criterium

Eric Riggs, our not-so retired teammate, takes a break from law school to race and edit an entertaining GoPro video at Landpark Criterium.

2013 Winters P12 Road Race: A NorCal Classic

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By Adam Switters Winters road race has always been sort of a homecoming for me. Living just down the road in Davis for 6 years while attending college, I have ridden the road race course well north of 100 times. The course brings out every type of rider, from sprinters to climbers. The final climb is just far enough that the climbers can hope to hit it hard and bring a small group to the line, but also just easy enough that sprinters are often able to make it over the top for a chance at a sprint finish. This year’s race was the 6th race of the Cal Cup series and one of the last races of Northern California’s Prestige Series.

Team Mike’s Bikes came into the race with a strong squad that included the defending champion Dana Williams. Add in Roman Kilun who was second in the NorCal Premiere Series, myself who was leading Cal Cup, and on-form riders Brandon Trafton, Nick Newcomb, Shawn Rosenthal and James Laberge. The team was coming to the race with some serious horsepower. Our goals for the race were three-fold:

1. Win the race

2. Defend Cal Cup lead

3. Premier Series Points

What we didn’t want to do however was forsake goal #1 for goals #2 and #3. The main objective was to win the race, and if we happened to grab some points along the way, then that was an added bonus. Joining us in our 96-mile adventure would be a strong Marc-Pro Strava team, and several strong individual riders.

From the gun, a seven-man break got up the road and quickly gained two minutes on the pack. With both Trafton and Newcomb up the road, we were able to sit pretty and relax. After 35 or so miles, Newcomb would come back with three other riders, leaving three riders still up the road, including Trafton. Now out of the break, Marc Pro put five riders on the front of the peloton to close the gap, and with 45miles to go, the race was gruppo compacto. Unlucky for us, we were now down to four riders as both Laberge and Kilun succumbed to flat tires.

The third time up the climb, I helped to push the pace, and off the descent, five riders had a gap. We worked hard to push the gap out as much as we could, but the Marc-Pro led peloton pulled us back in a few miles later. After a quick succession of attacks, Jonathan Teeter (2nd place Cascade TT in Pro 1) managed to get a 30 sec gap. Noting the TT prowess of Teeter, we put Trafton and Newcomb back on the front of the field to keep the gap in check. Despite both riders being in the early break, they rode out of their minds and were slowly bringing back Teeter.

Marc-Pro was having none of this however, and they started attacking once again to try and press their numeric advantage. Trafton managed to sneak off the front once again with perennial strong man, Chuck Hutcheson of Marc-Pro. Hutcheson would ride a tiring Trafton off his wheel coming into the final climb netting him a 30 sec advantage over a dwindling peloton. I hit it up the final climb hard hoping to split up the group, but to my surprise, twenty or so riders were able to crest the climb in the lead group leading to the biggest pack finish that I remember in Winters road race history.

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With continued attacks and tactical games being played, the race became very chaotic. With 2 kilometers to go, my remaining teammate, Dana, and I, were stuck in a back group of 10 dangling about 5-6sec off the lead group. We caught them with 1k to go and Dana shot to the inside while I went around the outside hoping gaps would open. Luckily, with 250m to go, Craig Fellers (Red Peloton) jumped on the outside with Hutcheson and myself on his wheel. Hutcheson jumped with 200m to go and I came off his wheel with 125m to go and put my head down. I was able to take a clear victory and managed to miss a crash that took down its fair share of rider right behind me.

1. Adam Switters (Team Mike’s Bikes p/b Incase)

2. Chuck Hutcheson (Marc-Pro Strava)

3. Thibault Jeannes (Hennebont Cyclisme)

Full results: http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2013-3038

Thanks to Team Mike’s Bikes p/b Incase for their great support and Velo Promo for putting on what I always think of as the best race of the year.

2013 San Ardo Road Race: A Hard Fought Battle

by Brandon Trafton The race started out pretty cold, there was some fog that rolled in over night and being from Fresno, with consistent 100* summers, I was freezing. Rainier however, felt right at home from living in the city of San Francisco.

Right from the gun a Garmin development rider attacked the pack non stop.  There was some response from the field but the split finally happened about an hour into the race. There were seven guys up the road initially. Chris HD, Greg White and I then bridged shortly after. We rotated pretty consistently for the next lap and a half.  Then Chris HD started attacking the breakaway group before the start of the fourth lap.  After one move, I countered and a Lombardi Sports rider followed me. We were then caught by five of the initial break about 20K later.

About 15K to go, there were a series of attacks that ended up putting Colin Joyce (Cal Giant) up the road solo, Chris HD chasing and myself chasing Chris. I didn't look behind too much but when I did, it looked as if if was every man for himself. After I caught Chris, we rotated to catch Colin, we tried to attack around him but he was able to catch on as we passed. Colin was sitting on, so as I pulled out to signal him that he had to work, Chris attacked ceasing the opportunity (craft little devil). We gave Chris a few hundred meters and that was all he needed. He turned on the after burners and stayed away whiles Colin and I reluctantly chased keeping one eye on each other. Colin got the sprint for 2nd and I came in 3rd. It was a very fun race; super active, which I enjoy. Teammate Adam Switters still holds the Cal Cup by 3 pts. I'm looking forward to next weekend in Winters and Vacaville.

2013 Tour de Nez

Teammate Brandon Trafton would be my only teammate for the day. At the San Rafael Twilight the night before he soloed for 25% of the race and still had enough energy to lead out and send teammate Dana Williams into the final straight for the sprint finish. He's flying, I was pretty stoked. The race started fast with a first lap prime and immediately after Trafton is off the front with Johnathan Teeter (Marc-Pro Strava). Teeter just recently finished second place at the NRC Cascade Cycling Classic Time Trial and is the race favorite for the day.

The peloton chased hard after them for forty-five minutes, notably the entire Predator Cycling team, fresh from their win over crit-powerhouse UHC at Pairie State Cycling series, and Max Jenkins (Kenda Pro Cycling - 5-Hour Energy).

Justin Rossi (Marc-Pro/Strava) and I went ultimate passive aggressive blocking mode, clogging up lines in the turns and pretending to pull while Trafton and Teeter rode super humanly and maintained their thirty-five second lead.

Eventually the chase cracked and Rossi and I made the bridge up to Trafton and Teeter. All four of us traded pulls working together (photo credit: Steve Ellsworth),  maybe only thirty seconds from lapping the field, until about four laps to go when Rossi and Teeter started to light things up and trade attacks, not wanting it to come down to a sprint.

We rode really well during this time, going all out to match Teeter's and Rossi's accelerations knowing that if we gave either of them any space they would just time trial away from us.

Coming into the last lap Rossi launched an attack that I chased. It gapped us pretty far from Teeter and Trafton. I sat behind Rossi, waiting for sprint distance to the finish line or for Trafton to catch up so I could lead him out, whichever came first. Trafton opted to play it safe and sit on Teeter rather than risk leading out Teeter in his chase up to me, which was a tremendous sacrifice on his part and ultimately gave me the win.

I had been cornering really well all day, so with the final corner in sight I jumped as hard as I could into it and came out with a decent gap that I carried to the finish line for the win. Trafton did the same thing behind me and came in for third.

Quick final note: Reno was incredibly hot and incredibly dry. Most of the race I had globs of dry spit accumulating on my lips and my throat being torn to bits from sucking down mouthfuls of dry air. I've had to take people's word that OSMO is the best drink mix for endurance athletes because I know absolutely nothing about life sciences, but today was the first time I was able to physically feel just how powerful this drink mix is. I am speechless as to how much better and how much easier the pedal strokes came after each drink of it.