This weekend Sho-air/Sonance Juniors once again made appearances at multiple races: Saturday at the Imperial Classic, The Mission Bay Triathlon and LAVRA Cup TT, and Sunday The SIMPLE GREEN Criterium in Dominquez Hills. Let’s head down towards the border for the Imperial Classic Crit…
Imperial Classic Criterium – Sat (Feb 20th)
Touted by race promoters as the ‘Fastest Race in the USA’… below sea level (6ft below according to our Garmin) racers pulled up to the starting line at the Imperial Classic in sunny Imperial, CA to compete on the flat 0.8 mile L-shaped crit course. Sho-air/Sonance had a total of 6 riders competing in 3 junior categories: M13-14 – Doug Hall and Nathan Rico; M15-16 – Michael Shein, Jordan Hirschman, Taylor Tongate, and Doug Hall & Nathan Rico (racing-up); M17-18 – Chris Wyman, and Michael Shein, Jordan Hirschman & Taylor Tongate (racing-up). Many of the racers would be doing back-to-back races as final preparation for next weekend’s Callville Bay Classic stage race in Nevada.
M15-16 (8:20 AM): With Sho-air/Sonance feeling lucky and fielding five of the 10 riders in the field a podium sweep wasn’t out of the question, however there were also a number of racers from Yuma, AZ who were unfamiliar and could be potential threats. Right from the start the pack set a high tempo riding into a 4-6 mph headwind on the front stretch and then picking up the tailwind on the back side. The group stayed together for most of the first 4-5 laps when a solo rider from SC Velo took a header off the front to test his legs and perhaps see if anyone would give chase. Sho-air feeling strength in numbers didn’t panic and just let him hang in the wind for about a lap before he realized the gig was up and was swallowed back up by the peloton. The group continued steady until they announced ‘5 laps to go’, then heads started turning, looking at one another to see who would make the first move. This cat and mouse game continued and before they knew it the bell-lap was being rung… catching a few riders by surprise. Jordan and Michael didn’t hesitate and went to the front, putting in a hard acceleration that dropped half the field. They motored down the back stretch and made the last three right turns before heading into the final straightaway for the bunch sprint. Jordan was beginning to taste victory and dug extra deep in hopes of taking his first crit race win. Just before he rolled across the finish line in first-position, they rung the bell again and the race announcer sounded off with… and one lap to GO! Jordan looked up with an expression that said… “What the heck just happened?” It took Jordan and a few other racers a couple of seconds to realize that the judges had run the bell prematurely, and that there was still one more lap to go. As the front of the group coasted past the finish line, a few of the riders from the back figured out what was going on and got a jump on the field; they sped off and the puzzled riders got out of their saddle and gave chase. Both Sho-air riders had worked really hard on the last lap and were now feeling spent; they chased hard and caught the break, but were out sprinted by a lone SDBC rider at the finish line. Still Jordan and Michael clinch 2nd and 3rd respectively, a good result considering the confusion created by a double bell-lap and what could have ended disastrously with no podium results for the team. Doug and Nathan came in with the second group and crossed the finish line together in 7th and 8th and Taylor came in 9th.
There was little time to rest, because all five Sho-air/Sonance riders from the previous race hurried over to roll-out, and back to the start line, for in just a few minutes would be the start of their second race. Also joining them in the M17-18 age group was Chris Wyman, who by Sunday afternoon would have competed in 9 events in the last four weekends: Poor College Kids, Mothballs, Boulevard, CSULB Sprint Tri, VoS (3 stages), Imperial Classic and Dominguez Hills. I get tired just thinking about it, but every time I see Chris he’s all smiles and full of energy… keep it up Chris. To make things a little easier for the judges the older 17/18 kids would be starting first, and then the younger 13/14 group would roll out a minute later hoping to create some separation between the two groups and make for easier scoring.
M17-18 (8:55 AM): After having worked pretty hard in the previous race Taylor, Michael and Jordan reassessed their podium expectations, and instead of looking for another high result for themselves, decided to work for Chris and help him earn some points in the always tough 17/18 age group. Right from the start the nine 17/18 juniors set a high pace that would be hard to maintain throughout the race. After a few laps the group relaxed a bit providing a short respite, but then a rider attacked from the front and created a one-man break. The tempo picked up a little, but not nearly enough to match the speed of the solo attacker. The rider grew his lead until he’d put about a minute on the field and then just held this distance; the other riders patiently sat in the group waiting to see who would make the next move and Sho-air protected Chris’ position in the pack. With about 5 laps left the older 17/18 riders knew it was time to go, so two of them broke off from the main field, and in pro-like fashion bridged up to the single man in the break. This move caught most riders a little bit by surprise but then only one lap later the other two 17/18 riders went all-in, attacked and were able to accelerate and also bridge up to the three riders in the break… an impressive feat to watch considering the distance these guys had to cover and how bold and decisive their moves were. Chris attempted to bridge up also, but probably just ran out of time. The breakaway group sprinted for the finish, and the Sho-air juniors came in just a few hundred yards behind the main field; Chris, Michael and Jordan finished up in 6th, 7th and 8th respectively, and Taylor trailed a little further behind in 9th place. All things considered good team work from all the juniors in the race.
M13-14 (8:56 AM): Just a minute behind the 17/18’s, the field of twelve 13/14 juniors lined up and started on the same crit circuit. Doug and Nathan were warmed up, but could have used a bit more recovery time from the hard effort in the previous 15/16 race. Still they launched with the rest of the field and rode with the pack until the later end of the race when the 17/18s began to overtake them and the two groups started mixing. Some of the 13/14 riders were able to match the faster pace, grabbed a wheel and drafted behind the 17/18 riders to pull away from the rest of the 13/14 group. Doug and Nathan did what they could and worked with what was left of their field to try to chase back; the field was fragmented and it became really tough to figure out who was where and on what lap. Riders streamed across the line in groups of ones-and-twos after the 17/18s had finished. The results were posted, but then contested after it was clear that four lapped riders had been scored ahead of the front finishers. In the end Doug finished up in 5th and Nathan got another 8th place for their second race of the day.
In all the junior team did well by coming away with two podium spots in the 15/16 race and getting additional mileage and training in for next weekend’s big event… good job juniors.
The Mission Bay Triathlon – Sat (Feb 20th)
About 100 miles west of Imperial, CA racers were preparing themselves for The Mission Bay Triathlon at Fiesta Island – a historic venue because it‘s home to the very first triathlon back in 1974. Set to compete in the M-U20 category was Jason Lupo who won his age group last year and was hoping to repeat again. However, he’s not exactly where he wants to be with his fitness as Jason’s still recovering from surgery late last year, which delayed the start of his early season training (surgery removed a metal plate from his now-healed collar bone).
Though the bike, swim and run splits still aren’t available Jason finished the race in the solid time of 1:03:51… improving on last year’s performance by a whopping 5 minutes and 13 seconds (1:09:13)! However, one other U20 racer clocked in with a 1:01:34… giving Jason the second spot on the podium. Still Jason should be proud as it was good enough for 2nd in his age group, and 81st overall out of 333 participants, most of which were collegiate racers. Not too shabby for an early season performance, great job Jason!
The Simple Green Criterium – Sun (Feb 21st)
On Sunday Dominguez Hills was host to The Simple Green Criterium where racers would be competing on the 0.9 mil crit course. Taylor Tongate and Chris Wyman signed up for the men’s Cat-4 race, as there were no junior categories to enter. Fresh off his 6th place finish at the Imperial Classic Chris would have additional company - racing alongside him was one of the parents from his high school swim team who helped him get into racing back in October, and who just four months ago was cheering Chris on as he got lapped in Cat-5 races. So beyond this being Chris’ first Cat-4, this race would have additional significance for this reason.
M Cat-4 (8:30 AM): The field was about 75 riders deep and they’d be racing the four right-hander crit course for 45 minutes. Chris and Taylor hung near each other as they settled into the tempo of the race, and rode in the back half of the pack for the first 15 minutes. Then at one point the peloton came around and neither one of them was spotted in the pack. Shortly after this Taylor turned the corner by himself and slowly pulled up to the staging area. Chris’s dad, Rob, checked to see what the trouble was and discovered Taylor had some problems with his spokes, but said that Chris was doing fine and still in the race. On the next lap they looked and there was Chris pulling at the front of the pack – it turned out that they’d announced a prime for 5 upgrade points and Chris decided he wanted it. He sprinted for the line, but got 3rd as he crossed the judges’ booth. For the remainder of the race he stayed in the spearhead of the 10-15 racers as they came around and winded down the last few laps. By the bell-lap he was still in the pack, but had drifted to the back 2/3rds of the peloton. As they came around for the final stretch Chris sprinted for the finish and came across in about 30th place… a very respectable result given this was his first Cat-4 event. Chris remarked that the lines were cleaner, and wheels steadier in the Cat-4s, which made the race feel safer and gave him the confidence to try some racing tactics. So what about that dad who rides for Velo Alegro and helped get Chris into cycling last fall? Well the video showed Chris passing him as he sprinted for the finish line - student becomes the master. Way to go Chris!
LAVRA Cup TT – Sat (Feb 20th)
Rumor has it that Kyle Torres was spotted at the Home Depot Center Velodrome in Carson competing in the first of a series of time trial races that count towards the LAVRA Cup. Though details are sketchy we hear that Kyle competed in a couple of the TT races. Congrats to another Sho-air/Sonance junior for racing in the team colors.
Thanks again to all the juniors who competed and proudly represented Club Velosport and all its sponsors this weekend, and all the parents who supported their kids at the races. A special thanks to Jeff’s sister Karen, who let several of us stay at her house outside of San Diego. Next week is Callville Bay Classic for some, and Ontario – Dare to Race GP for others… good luck everyone.
Contributions: Rob Wyman, Jason Lupo, Jeff Shein and John Torres. |
