Nor-Cal Junior Criterium Championships

With all the other important races this weekend (Mt. Hamilton, San Jose Crit, other out of town races), not all the AMD Juniors were able to make it to the Nor Cal Jr Crit Championships. In spite of this, the AMD Juniors once again had a very strong showing.

Following the victory by James LaBerge in the 13-14’s race, Charlie and I prepared for the juniors 15-16 race. With only two of us in the race, we knew that we’d have different tactics than if our entire squad was in attendance. Rather than form a detailed strategy, we decided that we’d watch how the race unfolded and then formulate a strategy. At the start line, we spoke to Edan (Davis Bike Club), and decided that he and I would attack 5 laps into the race. With a large field starting the race we hoped to thin out the group to a select few with these attacks. After these initial attacks, we would observe the remaining strong riders, using these observations to form a strategy for the remainder of the race.

As the race started, Charlie rode to the front and set a fast pace. At the appointed time, Edan and I came from the back and shot up the road with the help of a nice tail wind. After just a few exchanges, we were brought back by the main group. The tactic had worked – the previously large group was now only about ten riders strong. What was unusual about this race was that everyone in this group was willing to work. The group of ten kept a rotating pace line until about six laps to go.

While the race had progressed, Charlie, Edan, Zach (Davis Bike Club) and I discussed strategy. We decided to send Charlie and Edan up the road with 5 laps to go. Our observation was that the only rider strong enough to successfully chase them would be Peter (Tieni Duro). To counteract this threat, I made sure that Peter was on my wheel with 6 laps to go. Coming through the home stretch, I attacked and Peter followed, as expected. Peter pulled through, I sat on his wheel and let him do all the work, hoping that he would become exhausted. When I failed to work with Peter, the group came back to us with just over five laps to go and Charlie immediately took off. Unfortunately for Edan, he was not on Charlie’s wheel, and missed the move.

I quickly moved into position to slow the group down. Sitting at third wheel when Charlie took off, I was able to disrupt the pace of the group when the riders in front of me pulled off. The combination of Charlie’s strong riding and the disruption to the pack gave Charlie a substantial gap after just two laps. At this point, Edan began attempting to bridge up to Charlie. At first, when Charlie was still in sight, I didn’t want anyone to join Charlie, so I chased down Edan’s attacks, but once Charlie was out of sight, I let Edan go. Charlie was too far off the front and I knew that Edan wasn’t going to be able to bridge, though he continued to try. I also knew that his attempts to bridge were likely to sap his strength, hurting his chances in a likely field sprint. Eventually, Edan gave up and came back to the group.

With Charlie out of sight and on his way to victory by a substantial margin, I was able to recover at the front of the pack and prepare for the final sprint. Peter sent one of his teammates to the front with a little over a lap to go. He pulled the group around until corner three, at which point I came around. Coming out of corner four I jumped with everything I had. Hoping that I had dropped Peter, I continued to sprint until the finish. Unfortunately, Peter came around me with about 75 meters to go, passed me with a few meters to go, and took the sprint by only inches.

Despite losing the sprint, I was extremely happy with the race. We paid attention to what was happening during the race and came up with the right strategy. Our ability to execute that strategy brought us our second championship of the day!

Joel