California

Last Wednesday I decided last minute to head to Cali for Manhattan Beach GP just South of L.A. Over the past years, I always wanted to go there since I heard good things about it and obviously it takes place in one of the nicer spots in the US: beach, sand, sunsets, mild temperatures, the ocean etc. I did not get disappointed when I arrived Saturday evening and went for an hour spin on the sea from 17th Street going South.

The race was good, 120 starters, lots of R&R again, and the 80minute crit was more like a show than a bike race. No break would really stick for longer than a couple of laps and a field sprint was the predicted - and actual - outcome. Like at AT&T a week ago there were various small breaks but I never found any "Okay, let's go" attitude among the riders once we were only a bit off the front. Various riders get in break-aways but unless they are solo nobody seems to be interested to be pulling through...uh?

Bahati won, which was good for their guys after having bunch of PR out there and being s0-close in the past couple of weeks a couple of times. Ex-Mercy Huff actually made it through the corner first but Bahati won pretty clear I think - I saw it from 45 places back, among the other "non-field-sprinters".

Check this out, though...That JB rider seems to be introducing a new tactic on how to keep the competition away in the final sprint :-)

http://www.bicycle.net/2008/manhattan-beach-grand-prix-the-making-of-a-crash