Merco Downtown Grand Prix

A little change of pace as I added my teammates report from the race along with my own.

Race: Merco Credit Union Downtown Grand Prix (Crit)
Date: 03/01/08
CAT: 2 only
Field size: ~100
Teammates: Aaron, Peter, Mike

The course: Almost an ‘L’ shape with a chicane instead of a turn and a wide, fast 90-degree turn into a 350-meter finish.

The Plan: History says no one ever gets away on this course because its pretty open and it’s a highly prestigious race. We are new as a team so we are still figuring each other out and learning everyone’s strengths. We all planned to save matches for the end, try to find each and lead each other out.

The Conditions: Windy and cool. The wind really swirls around a lot on the course making it difficult to get a good draft at times.

Here is Mike Foley’s report

This is told from my vantage point so (Zack, Aaron and Peter) please add…
Windy - crosswinds, headwinds and tailwinds were the order of the day. Nice venue as always – downtown criterium, hay bales, storm fencing, announcers, prize money, spectators in the park. Some big names - I saw Chris Horner spinning around and Fred Rodriguez got a call out. The Rock Racing contingent was present. I didn’t see Cippo.
I was able to connect briefly with Zack and Peter before the Elite II race - start 1:30 pm, saturday. Nice to finally put faces with the names/emails. We warmed up and got acquainted, briefly talked strategy but mostly agreed that we’d have to see how things panned out (first race together) get a feel for how each of us rides. I didn’t get a chance to meet Aaron but I’d see him soon enough.
The Elite II race was a full field. It felt like 100+. The speed wasn’t as fast as I expected – it would pick up and slow down into the corners -riders bumping into each other, skidding around the orange metal fencing, cracks in the pavement. Slinky-effect. so many close calls. Blown tires and burnt rubber. Riders diving into the corners at the last minute. I came close to hooking the fencing on the right side of the start/finish straight-away a couple times. It was sketchy.
Throughout the race it was a constant battle to stay up front and out of the carnage. Hot laps and cash laps were announced keeping things interesting. I was content to sit-in – wait - and try our luck at the finish – save my matches. The final laps almost went our way… Throughout the race I’d regularly see Aaron tucked-in great position –top ten/fifteen sitting-in. Another time, while almost 30 of us took a free lap due to a crash- I looked up in time to see a breakaway of four shoot down the start/finish with Peter making a clean bridge into turn one. Zack was always right there. Whenever I moved up I’d be right next to him. Wells Fargo was always up there. For 40 laps it was a game of move up and slip back through the field. Stay up front and avoid the inevitable crashing. Riders would make lazy mistakes, drifting into corners, clipping the metal fence – like it wasn’t there the lap before?
With two to go I was able to move into fourth position with Zack on my wheel in fifth. Things were looking good. I knew Pete was close by. It was difficult to hear each other with the wind always shifting. We were trying to communicate. We stayed in that position for most of that lap and then the bell lap saw a single rider crashing hard-looked like helmet-to-pavement-on the backside of the course, which suddenly brought more riders up to the front and then… it was anybody’s race. Things were shuffled around again. A block before the last corner I knew Peter was close (on my wheel?) so I gave it what I had before the last corner, and turned to give him a last push… but… it wasn’t him! The uniform looked so similar in that split second I turned and shoved the wrong rider forward and then saw Peter on my left – Damnit!!!!
Overall it was a good race – we rode well – in my opinion. Always up front. I’m glad we all stayed upright. It is difficult to pick our riders out of the crowd. A couple times I couldn’t tell if we had someone in the break –and hesitated to chase. Maybe different colored tires? There are two other teams that look real similar. What do you guys think? Something that makes us stand out –I’m glad we all stayed upright.

And here’s my two cents:

Did Mike mention that it was sketchy and that there were people diving into corners and taking bad lines? It was ridiculous. There were 6 crashes by my estimate and I narrowly avoided two of them, one of them being on the last lap when I almost went over the front end trying to brake.

Mike's got it right. We rode a great race until 1 to go. He found me with 4 to go and kept me top 10 for 3 laps. It was actually quite amazing that we were able to find each other and stay together considering we had met each other that day. But, with one to go we didn't anticipate the swarm well enough going through the start/finish so we lost about 20 spots. I was tasting the victory in my mouth just before the swarm and I still had 3 good matches left. Even after the swarm in which I lost contact with Mike I still planned to try and manage a top 10, but the crash on the backside happened 10th wheel when I was sitting 13th wheel and I still don't know how I avoided it. After that I rolled in not even contesting the sprint for 30th place

Peter was 16th and did an amazing amount of work. With 3 to go he saw Mike and I sitting 4th and 5th wheel and he went to the front to try and string it out, but they stupid cat2 field just let him roll off the front.

Cat2 only races suck. Seriously, I don't know how to convey how sketchy of a race it actually is. Some guy had a helmet cam on, maybe we can get footage so everyone can see how bad it was.

On a positive note, the team chemistry rocks and we are seriously gonna take home some wins this year. Yes, wins in the P1/2 fields. Not just top 10s, but victories. You heard it here first.

Results: 30th