Daryoush reports from Merco 3/6/12

Daryoush reporst from Merco!


Race: Merco Classic Hilltop Ranch


Class: 45+ Cat 1,2,3


Riders: around 88


Teams: CoreTechs (1), Morgan Stanley (7), Wells Fargo Team (4), Colavita Racing-Norcal (3), Echelon Gran Fondo (3), SAFEWAY/GA(4),Sierra Nevada(6) and bunch of other teams with 2-4 riders


Distance: 72 miles (3X24)


A beautiful day in Turlock's rolling hills with temperatures around 72. Amazing number of teams and riders at this race. Every other car on hwy 580 to Turlock had a couple of nice racing bikes on it!

The course is a 24 mile loop of rolling hills (you are either going up or down) - half of the loop had decent pavement and the other half which led to the finish line had very bad pavement (really need to make sure your dentures are glued well before doing this race). The longest climb on the course was on the bad pavement with 10-15 miles/hr headwind. This climb was long enough to get you out of the saddle and make your legs burn a little the 2nd and 3rd time up. The finishing stretch was right after this climb with a couple of short rollers, a little longer hill and may be 20 feet of slight down hill.


I had good legs and felt pretty good during the warm up. My strategy was to create a brake with a couple of strong riders or follow brakes with more than 3 guys in it that included Dirk or one of his strong team mates (Echelon Gran Fondo), a Morgan Stanley rider and a Sierra Nevada rider.


Break attempts started fast and early - must have covered more than six or seven on the first lap and also tried to brake away a couple of times myself hoping that Dirk would join. All break attempts were reeled in. At the beginning of the 2nd lap Dirk took off by himself and rode solo in front of the pack for almost 20 miles. I new his team mates would attack as soon as he was caught -- which is exactly what they did. Cale and Hunter and two other guys jumped a few minute after Dirk was caught. I found myself in front with a couple of Morgan Stanley guys on my wheel. I made a short attempt to close the 10 foot gap that was openend but hesitated to go all the way since I was dragging the whole pack. As soon as I slowed down, a Morgan Stanley rider jumped from the back and joined the group up front.


They now had the perfect break recipe - 2 of the strongest guys in the field with a Safeway, Morgan Stanley, JSBC and ArtCycler.com group. Before the smaller teams realized that these guys were up front the gapped increased to 100 yards or so. This group went on to complete the top six list in the race.



Our group which still consisted 60 or 70 riders still kept the intensity high but the efforts were not consistent. (1) Teams would go to the front, pull really hard until they exhausted themselves and the rest of the group. (2) The pace would drop for a few minutes and then back to (1). Of course the six guys upfront got into a nice steady consistent tempo.



2K to go right after the rough section Dirk made an effort to break, I shifted into my 53/11 and went after him. In the middle of the last uphill section I caught him and had a pretty good gap on the pack. Passed Dirk, still in my 53/11 on the drop bar; I am losing rpm; 200 feet to go; don't have enough time to move my hands up to shift down; still losing cadence; tried to shift but there is too much tension on the chain to shift; I can hear guys behind me; got to the flat part but I am going backwards now; six or seven guys ride by me.


This was one of the best races that I've done and would definitely do it again. With CoreTechs' talent pool we can dominate this race next year.