La Mirada Grand Prix
By Dan Vinson

The 2006 La Mirada Grand Prix was held on the familiar 2 mile circuit with a quarter mile power climb out of turn one and a sprinter hill up to the finish line. Like the preceding weekend at West L.A. College G.P., the temperatures were high, again making the races even more challenging. Present at the event were the usual southern California suspects including several professionals from the team of Successfulliving.com, among others.

From the gun, Kayle LeoGrande (Kahala LaGrange) attacked on a solo move off the front. After the first lap, he had nearly a 30 second advantage on the field. Soon thereafter, the race heated up behind with several attacks from various riders throughout the group. Fairly early in the 90 minute race a chase group began to form on and after the climb. I saw Kyle Gritters (Healthnet), Chris Walker (Labor Power) and a Successfuliving rider were in it so I attacked and bridged across. We started a rotation and the move looked real promising, but the strung out peleton were in chase mode and hooked onto our group. LeoGrande was brought back into the fold and we were one group again.

Before the half way point in the race, the climb and heat had taken its toll on several riders, and the size of the pack had shrunk. A short while later Gordon McCauley (Successfulliving.com) and Walker attacked and came flying past the field at mach 5. I jumped and began a chase with a Jelly Belly rider on my wheel. We worked together and bridged across to Walker and McCauley and we were a four man break. Walker repeatedly drilled it on the climb with McCauley, and we didn't have much chance to recover from the bridge. While on the climb, the Jelly Belly rider lost the wheel in front of him. I was already on the rivet, and wasn't able to close the gap. We lost ground on the two (which really, really sucked) and were caught by the field.

While "resting" in the field, counter attacks went and a group of five bridged to the leading two, creating a 7 man breakaway including: Chris Walker, Gordon McCauley, Kyler Gritters, Kayle LeoGrande, Sergio Hernandez (VRC/MS Society), Rigoberto Meza (Coates Cyclery), and Ryan Yee (Successfuliving.com). Later, more attacks were made and three more guys got away in a chase group. Eventually, I attacked again in pursuit of the three. First Pat Caro (Helens) bridged to me, then Chris DeMarchi (SoCalCycling.com). But then Caro fell off the pace, then DeMarchi. Next, a group of three, Karl Bordine (Labor Power), Chris McDonald (SDBC), and Mark Fluss (Motortabs), bridged to me. We came desperately close to catching the three riders in front of us but we weren't working together and never completely closed down the gap. We should have. There was no reason not to. But that's racing.

Up ahead, the seven man break stayed away. I'm not sure how the final laps played out for the leaders, but this is how it finished up: Kyle Gritters (Healthnet) drilled it to the line to take the victory. Rigoberto Meza placed 2nd. Gordon McCauley (Successfulliving.com) flew up the sprinter climb to take 3nd. And after a tough race, Kayle LeoGrande (Kahala LaGrange) placed 4th. Jeremiah Wiscovitch (Successfulliving.com) led in the first chase group for 8th. After a long sprint, I slipped into the money, taking 12th place - not exactly what I wanted from this race, but at least I didn't leave empty handed! Yet again, the La Mirada Grand Prix didn't disappoint in the "pain" category. That hill seems to get longer every year! Until the next race . . .

Dan Vinson