Catching Up on Race Commentary and What Not...

Up North...

Wow, some great performances from locals in very competitive races up in the Fresno area the last two weekends. Adrian Gerrits raced the Pro/1 Merco crit and worked his way into a powerful nine-man break (eight pros including Chris Horner, and Adrian as the lone amateur). Unfortunately for our hero, Horner attacked and split the break and Adrian was in the back half that got reabsorbed, but he was still able to sprint to a top-20.

Adrian looking strong in this picture from Rob Evans. We can't read the big numbers on that powertap, but the careful observer will note that Adrian is so strong that his left quad has burst that Gel packet tucked under his skinsuit.


A closer view... at least I hope that is Gel...



Gary continued his streak of good placings and got a top-10 in the cat-2 crit.



...and sprinting to 2nd in the cat-2 RR the following day!



Although not technically a local, Ventura-resident Mark Shimahara has been racing every weekend and staying right up front with the pros. I spent a couple hours surfing (and pilfering) pictures of the recent races and this one from yesterday's CVC crit is typical... MarkZen mixed in with a gaggle of pros. Big time!



Down South: The Highs and the Lows...

Malcolm Hill is about the nicest guy who will ever kick your butt in a bike race. Even more annoying is that he's as handsome as George Clooney ...or so I'm told by people who would know. But he's a very humble and likable guy, so it was with great pleasure that I read he won the Pro/1/2/3 road race held out in the desert last weekend. I think one can deduce from the results that Malcolm and his Amgen/Giant brethren worked over our dear old friend C-Walk. I am eager to hear the story...

...but the following day at the Crash-4-Cash crit in LA, fate was not nearly so kind to Malcolm as he was involved in a nasty crash and suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. Five days in the hospital from that one! Let's all wish Malcolm a speedy recovery.