Cal Aggie Criterium, January 28, 2012

Contributors: Photos courtesy of Mark Adkinson
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Last race of January 2012

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Jeff Slayton at the Cal Aggie Criterium

Finishing out January was the Cal Aggie Criterium hosted by the UC Davis Cycling Team. The DBC Race Team was well represented in this early season classic, especially by the Junior Race Team which suited 11 riders in the blue and orange.  Of course, this does not include Junior Alexander Freund who raced in the most competitive race of Pro and Category 1, 2, and 3 riders along with Alex Walters, Michael Claudio, Jeff Schaller, Mike Pugh, Russ White, and Chris Harland-Dunaway. Pugh along with Karl Wurzbach also raced in a fast Men’s Masters 35+ Category 1/2/3 race. 

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Ryan Odell at Cal Aggie Criterium

Wurzbach, Claudio, and Schaller also raced in the Elite 3 category. Of the race Schaller writes, “This was my first race of the year.  I am feeling pretty good strength wise but not so much endurance wise.  I was curious to see how I would hold up.  As usual, we had some big plans for leadouts with our CAT3 team.  This was my first time at the Land Park course and I have to say I am not a fan.  It is very fast and wide open except for one ridiculous turn where everyone slams on the brakes, skids all over the place and then sprints. I had one exciting moment where another rider cut from the middle of the pack to the outside, clipping my front wheel on the way over.  I did a full on double Tokyo drift and was in complete crash prep mode but somehow came out of it still upright.  Claudio and I were able to hook up near the front with 1 lap left and it looked like all of our plans might come together.  Unfortunately we got swarmed on the back straight and ended up about 25 riders back going through the tight turns.  I passed a bunch of people in the gutter leading up to the sprint and ended up 12th.  I was bummed that we lost so many position on the last lap. I was definitely feeling a timid and could have done a better job being a little more aggressive at holding my position.  Something to work on over the next couple races.”

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