mutha f'in long weekend

Friday nite went to the track for what was supposed to be a "low-key" bit of racing.

yeah ... right.

DHolla and McCook went all lords-of-the-track on us, but in the end BJM took the omnium and i ended up 3rd after scoring heavy in the Points Race. Me and RKillit went away from the field and lapped all but one ... who, of course, was Ben. We had the points sewn up and BJM was looking to latch back on to us, but i pretty much said 'screw you, pro-boy' and we kept the pace high to make sure he didn't get his 20.

hard nite of racing.
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Saturday was the morning Coyote Creek racing where i was able to watch the VeloBella ladies take a satisfying 1-3-4, with Kerlin, Stellar, and SueNago. Great race to watch.

Us Safeway Geezers got it handed to us again by the Bosch-inator. He's on unstoppable form right now ... but Jeffe gave us a solid 2nd and the team rode well, so we were pleased.

Then, me n' Sabine cranked up the fossil-fuel express to San Rafael to help announce the later races after Casey and SMackinley called out the good stuff.

The Elite Women's racing was phenomenal with big exploits of power and intense strategic negotiations. Velo Bella had the ever young and hugely big-race Monica Nielson in the break of the day with Value Act Capital's Martina "sassypants" Patella, the New Zealand Jazz Apple time trial stud Alison Shanks, and PROMAN's LaLaLloyd.

There was bluff, there was decision, there was hard-nosed racing all around as the break would finally get swallowed up and a field sprint ensue. Jazz Apple had the goods to put Rushlee Buchanon ahead of PROMAN's Shelley Olds, VAC's Hannah "cute-as-an-Aussie-button" Hanks came in 3rd, some tattoed socal chick in 4th, and Easton's Mary Ellen Ash nabbed 5th.

Good strong podium.


The men's race was insane. BMC uncorked everything high octane to try and win it any way they could. Sayers was off the front a ton, but no breaks got more than a few seconds all nite long ... the speeds and aggression were that high. Navigator's Darren Lille was off late in a super-human effort, but it was all brought back together by the BMC sprint train that delivered Jackson Stewart to the line for a huge win.

2nd was Randy Bramblett of BPG ... a fantastic result for the local boy. He dedicated his result to downed Jamiel Danesh of Kodak Gallery (collarbone snap, which sux) - which kinda brought tears to all us regulars. Pretty cool.

There were a number of NorCal riders who rode out of their gourds on Saturday nite. But, i'm gonna do some relaxin' with the woman tonite and let the stories percolate until later in the week for brew pourin'.
- - -

Sunday was the Cougar Mtn whatevah up at Infineon. Sabine and I went and got pampered by Dave and Amyster in their San Francisco crazy house after San Rafael. We slept for 8 hours ... the first time that's happened in weeks - so, there was happiness.

After a long, luxurious morning of watching McEwen win a Tour sprint in miraculous fashion, we went over to race the circuit at the ... er, Infineon venue.

A dangerous break got away after a few laps and it was up to BJM to bridge across with horsepower.

... holey shyte, what a move. He took off about halfway up the steepy pitches and never looked back. It was impressive.

the rest of us survived and struggled and had our own small moments of "yay." A Successful-Living.com rider from Italy would take the win ahead of BJM, but Ben would add to his NRC lead ... and that's all that mattered.

In the women's race, a break of 4 forged off the front with 2 to go and a Webcor racer launched across on the hill with an inhuman effort. I couldn't believe how fast she jumped across that gap. I was too high up on the hill to identify her, but man ... was that a killer moment of racing to watch.

Webcor had 3 in the break with Bev Harper, Kat Curi, and Amber Rais. Cheerwine's Cheatley and Tibco's Victoria Bastide joined them. In the final few hundred meters, Rais led out the sprint in textbook fashion - as it was a couple of wicked little turns through the race track, then a swooping chicane through a tight fenced in area to erupt onto a 75m finishing straightaway.

Rais won it in front of Cheatley, with Bastide taking 3rd, Curi and Harper rounding out the podium.


ok ... this post took 12 minutes longer than i budgeted for, so talk to ya'll later.
~m