McCormack takes the win (photo by Lewis Geyer/Timescall.com)
Alan McCormack won the 2008 CO State Criterium Championship in a dramatic finish. While Dirk Friel's presence in a long breakaway looked promising for him to repeat as the state crit champ, with three laps to go, Friel was the last rider away after his three breakaway companions were swallowed up by the field. Friel held a narrow margin over the field, but with half a lap to go was caught. Never fear, as McCormack along with teammates Randy Reichardt and Christian McCarthy were well positioned for the sprint. McCormack took a close sprint over Reichardt in second with McCarthy finishing in sixth. Reichardt's second was impressive given that he crashed hard just 15 minutes earlier. For a full report, check out the Longmont news article from the timescall.com.
In Saturday's Rocky Mounts Criterium, Dirk Friel took second to team THF's Dan Schmatz.
The 08 State Crit podium (Byron Nix, Alan McCormack and Randy Reichardt)
Following are race reports by Jon Baker.
Vail Hillclimb:
Raced on the same day as the Mike Horgan hillclimb in Boulder, which I unfortunately would miss, the Vail Hillclimb promoted by Teva Mountain Games, and sponsored by Backcountry.com, offered a generous prize fund; but only 4 deep. This was the first race in my upcoming 5 week road trip, so I was motivated to earn a bit of money. Checking out the start list on the morning of the race revealed some heavy hitters, including Ned Overend (winner of the past 2 years), Mike Carter, Drew Miller, Stefano Barberi, Corey Collier (Health Net), and the Toyota duo of Ben Day and Chris Baldwin (both current or former national TT champions). I knew I would have to be on my "A" game for this one.
When I won this event 3 years ago, I raced on a full TT setup; this year, I used my road bike with clip-on bars. The course is half flat/rolling, with the 2nd half an uphill grade of 7%. With a ripping tailwind, times were super-fast, with both Day and Baldwin breaking the former course record (held by Andy Hampsten!). I was able to slot in 3rd place, about 20 seconds off the old record time. See http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/jun08/jun10news for a snippet on the race.
Folsom Criterium:
I raced a criterium in Folsom, CA as a warmup for my favorite race of the year, the Nevada City Classic. After lapping the field with a large group of 13, I mustered a fifth place in the sprint.
Nevada City Classic:
Held in my home town of Nevada City, CA, this race serves as a good reason to travel out to California, and see my family for Fathers Day. Oh yeah, and the race is pretty cool too. As the oldest race on the west coast, it has an impressive history and list of former winners (see www.ncclassic.com). I've dreamed of winning this race ever since I started competing, and always arrive super motivated. This year saw a list of the usual suspects for the difficult circuit that climbs 150 feet per lap for 40 laps. Scott Nydam, Justin England, Burke Swindlehurst, Steven Cozza, Matt Cooke, and Ned Overend were among the top contenders. As expected, attrition was the rule of the day, and by the midpoint the front group was down to a dozen or so riders. First Nydam, then England went up the road, and as I was going through a bad patch, I was unable to respond. The remaining seven or eight guys I was with set a good tempo, and we stayed within striking distance as I recovered a bit. As the race wound down, it became obvious that we would only be able to contest the final podium spot. I launched a late attack on the last lap, but was overtaken in the last 200 meters by Graham Howard (Bissell) and Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics), to arrive 5th on the day. I was pleased with the result nonetheless, as it equaled my previous best in this notoriously difficult event.
Tour De Nez:
The Tour De Nez was back to it's former glory as a multi-day NRC stage race this year. Held at altitude in and around the Reno / Tahoe area, this event is tailor-made for Coloradans. VC brought a 4 man team including, Randy Reichardt, Joey Pinkerton, Dirk Friel, and me. From the Team Presentation on the Grand Stage at the Grand Sierra Casino, to the Post-Event party with gourmet catered food and an open bar, the organization was top-notch. We were treated to complimentary hotel rooms, as well as 2 meals / day for the Reno portion of the event, and with Northstar Mountain Resort's commitment for the next 3 years, I was told that teams would be given rooms there as well next year.
I've realized that at the NRC level, if I just sit in and wait for the finale, I'm a bit behind the top riders. With that in mind, I was determined to "race" all stages this year, looking to be opportunistic and get in breakaways. That strategy panned out, as I was able to make the break on stage 2, finishing 2nd, and again on the final day, only missing the top step by about 6 inches! Overall, the stage results were much better than my anonymous 12th place overall, justifying my race strategy. As result of my two second places, I also was second in the Points competition, adding another $500 to the coffers. I was very happy I was able to get this result for the Vitamin Cottage Cycling Team pb XP Companies as we were due another national level result.
Following is Karl Erickson's race report from the .
Keirin - I sat up with 1.5 laps to go when the lead rider swung dangerously up track, sandwiching several riders together and pushing one rider into the boards. Riding safe was far more important to me than qualifying for the repechage round.
Miss-and-out - I was safely tucked away in the lane for the first 1/3 of the race and had an easy time as riders were eliminated one by one. Then with about 20 laps to go, I found myself in the back with a fast-moving pack that filled the entire width of the track.
The first evening was a little disappointing but I was still looking forward to the scratch and points races on Saturday.
15k scratch race - I was active right from the start, participating in three different break-aways. The first two breaks were short-lived (although I did pick up a bottle of wine for a prime at 35 laps to go) but the third break gathered some real muscle and looked promising. The pack recognized the danger and went full-throttle to catch us. We were then countered by a solo rider who took over three quarters of a lap before the pack went into chase mode again and brought everything together. In the end I was boxed in while the bulk of the pack came over the top.
20k points race - The points race started with a slightly more reserved pace than the scratch race. I began around 10th wheel and was up to 2nd wheel by the 3rd lap. I decided to try my luck and took a solo flier with 57 laps to go. The pack didn't really react, so I settled in, hoping to stay away until the points at 50 to go. The pack allowed the gap to grow to about half a lap before they started accelerating for the sprint. Giddeon Massie (2008 olympic team sprinter) took the 2nd place points with a hard-charging pack in tow. I continued working to see if it would be possible to capitalize on a post-sprint breather. It turned out that the pack's easy pace was around 30 mph, so my break only lasted another two laps before I was swallowed up by the pack. For the next 15 laps, I sat tucked in the pack recovering and trying to find another opportunity to snatch some points. With 32 laps to go, the opportunity presented itself. The pack was stretched out with some gaps between groups of riders and the sprinters lane was open with the lead riders sitting up. I shot through the opening and built up about a 2-3 bike length lead before anyone reacted. At the line Giddeon Massie nipped me for first place points and then the pack came roaring through so there was little time to rest before we started hammering again. In the last 20 laps, I rode defense, working to prevent anyone from taking a lap or any single break from eating up too many points. In the end, the two scoring laps put me in 3rd overall behind Kenny Williams (1st Rate Mortgage) and Daniel Holloway (Garmin Chipotle). Giddeon Massie lost a lap on the field but came back about 20 minutes later to win the flying lap record attempt.