It was a beautiful day in Morgan Hill, home of the Specialized Bicycles Headquarters! After the team’s yesterdays performance (Tyler Brandt winning Mount Hamilton Road Race), he had a strong shot at winning the omnium and to earn a spot at the Nature Valley Professional Stage race next month! The team’s plan was to first secure his qualifier and second, to get the win whether it was by breakaway or field sprint.

It was a windy day; head wind on the front straight and a cross-head wind the next straight away. We thought that a breakaway would get away, so wanted to make sure to stay near the front and make sure we don’t miss it. There were multiple attacks throughout the race and it strung out the field a lot but it never really broke the field apart completely. Eric Riggs gave me a perfect lead out for a $150 prime at about the halfway point in the race and I felt good in that effort, so I decided to sit in and wait for a field sprint and make sure Tyler would be on my wheel so that he can get to Nature Valley.

It indeed eventually came down to a field sprint and we were lined up about 10 guys back with 1/2 laps to go and I yelled up to Steve “GO!” and he attacked so hard that I had to then tell him slow down, but we quickly adapted and was able to get organized and ramp up the speed again. Tyler came by me and led me out through the last turn and I was able to come around him to take the win! Tyler was able to hang on for 2nd and earned himself a spot to go to Nature Valley and compete against the pros! Big congrats to him and he will definitely represent Team Mike’s Bikes strong! Martin Acosta (McGuire) finished 3rd, and Chuck Hutchenson (Marc-Pro Strava) finished in a well-deserved 4th place!

Thank you to all of my teammates throughout the race yesterday as it was a pro/1/2/3 race, so I was able to race with a few of my category 3 teammates which made it pretty cool! They were all so selfless and were all willing to stick their head out in the wind and turn the pain meter up a notch. Couldn’t have done it without them! Also, couldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for any of our sponsors that have come together and helped support this amazing team that has come together as one! Once again, thank you and hope you have enjoyed the reading!

Photo Credit: Dale Tapley

I look around and see 4 other teammates stacked at the front of the race with 1km to go to the summit. Jim Wingert was up there setting the pace. John Piasta attacked hard 1km from the summit to go after the KOM. Evan Huffman, 2012 Gila TT winner of Cal Giant, putting his team on his back at the front of race, went shortly thereafter with Jim and myself on his wheel. When Huffman went, it took quite a bit to stay in contact, that guy has an engine.

Jim and I sat behind Huffman while he chased down John. When Huffman caught on to John on the flats after the summit, I looked at our group containing three of us and Huffman. I looked back and we had a decent gap on the field. I yelled: “Jim, go to the front and drill it” in hopes of getting this group to keep rolling for a advantageous breakaway. We did the work to make sure we were toward the front of the race with numbers the entire climb and it paid off. Our team was in an extremely good position here. Jim took over and without intention got a gap on all of us immediately. Huffman closed it down. At this point, Huffman had been a beast, pushing hard in the wind for over three minutes on his own. I think back to what local racing strategy expert, Roman Kilun would do in this situation. Roman would assess the situation and decide what would strategically put the race largely in the team’s favor.
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Roman Kreuziger wins Giro Italia stage 19.

This was the third opportunity, and the second weekend in a row, for NorCal riders to race this course this season.  I had competed in the first two races and placed 3rd and 2nd.  My number was called (the team worked for me to try to get the win) last weekend  during the Team Swift Crit. This weekend we decided Steve Paleaz, our team director, was our team member who we were going to work for to try to get the win.  It was just myself and Hank who were there to help Steve because the majority of Team Mike’s Bikes riders were south racing the Modesto and Fresno crits.  Our plan was for Hank and I to mark any dangerous breaks while Steve was to rest as much as possible in the field while at the same time be attentive and not miss any crucial breaks.   Read more