Race Report: Poor College Kids Road Race and Mothballs Criterium
By Lucas Binder, SKLZ pb Pista Palace
About fifty racers in the Pro/1,2 field towed the line for the first road race of year in Southern California, the Poor College Kids Road Race, put on by the UCSB Cycling team and which winds out and back through the wine country just north of Los Olivos, for a total of 68 miles of racing.
After a long delay caused by a finish line crash in the Cat 5 field we were given the gun and began course, starting off with ten miles of gradual rolling/uphill before hitting the short climb. Near the top of the first climb a group of 6-8 riders rolled off the front and opened their gap on descent. The major teams represented in the break were Pista Palace (Livingston and VanGassen), the Monster Media team (Kayle LeoGrande). The LaGrange team missed this first break and after the descent had all of their guys on the front chasing, pulling the rest of the field along at 35+ mph for the next seven miles of flat road before the turn around. However the break worked together well and the gap continued to grow.
With the break looking to be established, quite a few attempts were made to bridge up to it, the strongest coming from Sergio Hernandez of Jelly Belly and Team Type 1’s William Dugin, however both fell short. By the halfway point the break had whittled down to four, but continued to maintain a gap of well over a minute on the field. Sergio Hernandez (Jelly Belly) gave another acceleration and a group of five including James Gunn Wilkinson and myself(Pista Palace), Masters 35+ State Champion Rudolph Napolitano(Monster Media), and a CTC team rider came clear of the field.
For the last half of the race the five of us traded pulls smoothly, if unevenly, and gradually approached the lead group, with Sergio doing the lion’s share of the work, and passing a couple stragglers who fell off the pace along the way. Coming into the climb for the 4th and final time Sergio set a strong tempo with only James Gunn and myself being able to follow his wheel. Coming over the top we were within a minute of the lead group and the three of us pinned it for the next nine miles of flat/downhill to the finish. For all his efforts Sergio suffered from an untimely mechanical in the final two miles and was forced out of contention. James and I continued going full gas to catch the leaders but fell short in the final kilometer and rolled in for 5th and 6th respectively.
Up the road the sprint came down to Adam Livingston (Pista Palace) and Kayle LeoGrande (Monster Media), with Livingston taking the win after Ricardo Escuela was relegated to 3rd place for going over the centerline.
Mothballs Criterium
The next day was the Mothballs Criterium in Goleta, a flat and fast business park crit with 2 sharp turns and one long sweeping curve into a strong headwind for the finishing straight. The final race of the day, the Pro/1,2,3 race, included most of the racers from the day before as well as a few other crit racers and the cat 3s who were willing to double up, with SKLZ pb Pista Palace, Monster Media, and LaGrange again being the major teams represented.
With a lot of primes on the line, including a 3-lap stacked prime totaling close to $150, a lot of attacks went off the front early on in the race. The most promising move contained about eight riders, with most of the major teams represented, and had a minute on the field at one time. However less than 20 minutes later it was all back together.
With 15 laps to go, Jamie Paolinetti (Pista Palace) launched a bold attack and brought Aaron Schneider (Full Circle) with him, and the two opened a gap over the next five laps. With the field growing nervous that a breakaway would steal the show a flurry of attempts were made to bridge up to the duo up the road, but all failed and only resulted in keeping the speed high and keeping the gap right around 15 seconds. Inside of ten laps to go a rider in an ASU kit made a strong attempt to bridge up with me sitting on his wheel. He made it more than halfway before blowing up and I quickly came around him and finished the bridge to my teammate and began working with him to widen the gap to the field. Schneider fell off the pace and with 7 laps to go it was just Paolinetti and I time trialing with over a 15 second gap on the field. Coming into the bell lap we were caught by a 5-man chase group led by Iggy Silva (FFCA U23 team), which immediately looked around for what to do next. Anthony Aker (Pista Palace) soon flew past them to take advantage of the confusion and held a precarious 5 second gap over a fast charging field being led by current USPRO Crit Champ Daniel Holloway (Kelly Benefits Strategy). Aker was eaten up in the final 300 meters by the sprinting field with Ken Hansen (Jelly Belly) timing his sprint into the headwind just right to take the win followed by Cody O’Reilly (OUCH pro cycling) and Justin Williams (FFCA U23 team) to round out the podium.
It was an exciting and unregrettable weekend of racing, and a great start to the season. Next up is the Boulevard Road Race in San Diego, which looks to have a strong UCI field and fair weather for the first time in years (fingers crossed), and then the Red Trolley Criterium.
