Ventura Stage Race Pro/1/2

Team: Aaron Schneider, Brock Curry, Cory Greenberg, Michael Van Eerd, Nick Martinez, Spencer Smitheman, Tyler Locke

The Ventura County Stage Race was for the most part a success in it's inaugural year. Despite big name riders Floyd Landis and Rory Sutherland not showing, the field was still strong. Each stage offered great and challenging courses.

Prologue: The prologue was a short, fast Time Trial through Downtown Ventura with tight turns and a generally exciting course. I personally was not happy with my performance, but NOW riders Nick Martinez and Brock Curry were 9th and 10th respectively, sitting close and in good company. Not much time separated the group, but it still played an integral role in determining GC.

Criterium: This was a tough stage due to the substantial hill to be conquered every lap. Our race started at 6:30 and ran for 75 min, making it dusk when we finished. The town was experiencing some fog which had a nice cooling effect throughout the race. From the early laps of the race, NOW was active in launching attacks although we soon realized we needed to make them matter as you would suffer greatly once caught. In the final third of the race, when moves appear as if they have a greater and greater chance of success, I followed Roman Kilun (Team Ouch) as well as a handful of other strong riders off the front. We hung about 5-10 seconds off the front for the next few laps before the catch. The counter attack to this breakaway contained Neil Shirley (Kelly Benefits), Rudy Napolitano (Liquid Fitness) as well as Tyler among a few others. After a lap or two, Neil had split the group to all but Rudy and himself and Tyler was back in the pack. The final laps played out as expected with Neil soloing to win in front of Rudy and VRC alum Eric Barlevav bringing in the pack for 3rd. Michael was our best placed rider in 8th, with Brock, Tyler and myself left in the 25 person peloton.

Circuit Race: The race in Ojai was a complete reversal of the cool weather the evening before. I heard talk of the temperature in excess of 100 degress. Although I am unsure that is completely true, the heat was brutal and oppressive. The race began at a relaxed pace although the climb came quickly and soon it was time to work. The first lap where the riders brought the heat was lap 3 when up the climb, the pack split into a few groups. I had been at the front and not realized the extent of the damage until some time after the descent, a group of riders including teammates Aaron, Tyler made caught back on. A lap or two later and Roman Kilun went off the front on the flat part of the course. It was expected that the next climb would be a test of character. On that climb, Neil Shirley rode away with a Lagrange rider (who was later dropped) and three other riders rode off the front in pursuit. The group that remained was now dwindled to maybe 15 riders including myself and Aaron. Our pace slowed consistently after that and for a rider we brought back, another slipped away. I have to give big kudos to Aaron here for riding so strong and selflessly. He was a valuable teammate encouraging me to attack and discussing how to make it work. On the second to last time up the climb, I countered an attack and rode off solo, lasting until just before the feed zone, but the chase had helped make our group smaller. In the end, the group brought to the line consisted of 8 people and was the biggest group on the road. Rudy took the bunch sprint for 7th with myself and Aaron coming in 11th and 14th respectively. That race was as Kurt called it, a death march and was a lesson in suffering.

As for the GC situation, I ended up 12th, Aaron 29th, and Cory as our only other finisher in 38th. It was great to have Kurt on as our Director Sportif once again. Overall the race was great and looks promising for the future with talks of adding stages and general expansion.

Spencer