Gavi Epstein on his third Redlands

By Daniel McMahon

THIS WEEK I caught up with local rider Gavriel Epstein of CRCA/Foundation to get the inside scoop on his experience racing in this past weekend’s Redlands Bicycle Classic in California. Here’s what he had to say.

You’re riding with CRCA/Foundation this year. How did that come about?
I was approached by Foundation at the end of 2008 to ride for them in 2009, but it did not end up working out. At the end of the season last year, I approached them to see if they had any spots open for me. Lisban Quintero and I have raced together as teammates before, and I knew it would be a great combination.

How does a team get into a race like Redlands?
Well, basically I filled out the application and gave them the roster we were going to send with the riders’ results. All the riders had to be Cat 1. I also told the organizer that both Lisban and I had raced in Redlands before. I think it was the international results that both Lisban and I had, as well as some good domestic results, that got us into the race—and the fact that I started the process in the winter to make sure we got in.

How were riders selected by the team?
Really we have only six Cat. 1 riders on the team, and one of those riders is still in Trinidad, so there wasn’t really a selection process. Eugene Boronow guest-rode for us there since we have all been friends for a long time and he was in the neighborhood.

Had you raced Redlands before?
I’d raced in Redlands twice before, once with CRCA/Sakonnet, in 2007, and last year, with Champion System.

Can you describe how the race went stage by stage, in general and for you personally?

Prologue, 3-mile uphill TT
Ben Day from Fly V Australia wins, and I did 1 minute 10 seconds slower than him. I was on a road bike with only clip-on bars, while all the top guys had TT bikes. I was actually quite happy with this because I took 45 seconds off my time from last year, while Ben Day who also won last year only did three seconds faster from last year, which meant the conditions were about the same. It was also cool that Lisban and I were practically tied in the TT, with Lisban beating me by just 5/100ths of a second.

Stage 1, 105-mile road race: large 37-mile opening lap with four smaller laps of 17 miles with one climb
Fly V had the yellow jersey, so it was a very controlled race. They basically set a really nice tempo the whole race; the first half was an easier tempo, allowing a break to go, I think, up to four minutes. The last two laps they upped the pace, and a lot of the 190-rider field started getting dropped, while the gap to the break came down fast. I did my best to stay near the front for the climb while staying out of the wind and moving up during the rest of the race. The last time up the climb was brutal, and I was definitely at my limit but made it over the top with what was left of the field, less than half of what we started with.

On the climb, three riders were able to get away and stayed just 10 seconds in front of the field all the way back into town, winning just seven seconds in front of the field. In that break was Ben Jacques-Maynes, who basically tied Ben Day now in the overall, like half a second behind. I figured since Lisban and I were still in the field, I should try to do something. I tried to position Lisban as best I could near the front coming in to the sprint, leading him up the side of the bunch all the way to about the top 10, but we couldn’t hold our position as we were on the wrong side of the field in the wind along with all the fighting for positioning going on and started to drift back. I think Lisban finished in the 30s somewhere, and I a bit farther back.

Stage 2: 90-minute, flat, technical criterium
Again, Fly V with the yellow jersey put the whole team on the front and controlled the whole race, not letting any breakaways get anywhere. They did an amazing job, and it was an extremely fast crit, and with 170 guys starting, the crit basically dropped 50 guys throughout the race, then the lead-out that was given by United Healthcare at the end—to try to have Jake Keough (my ex-teammate from CRCA/Sakonnet) win the race—and that dropped another 50 riders. We averaged 29 mph. It was extremely hard and extremely fast with lots of crashes. For me, the last three laps were the worst of the whole race. Guys were giving up in front of me everywhere, and I wanted to finish with the field and get the same time, so I was closing gaps down everywhere while going about 35 mph.

I succeeded in my goal by having to sprint hard to close the last gap right before the finish line and finished in the field, at the back, but still in the field getting the same time. Hilton Clarke from the Bahati Foundation team won, while Jake ended up getting second, which was an amazing result.

Stage 3: 95-mile Sunset loop circuit race: two laps on crit course, climb four miles or so to the six-mile Sunset circuit with 12 laps, then back down the 4-mile climb to the crit course, and do five more laps
This was the make-it-or-break-it day for all the marbles. On the climb leading into the circuit I followed a breakaway, hoping to just make it to the circuits in front of the field. Since the circuit is very technical and always up and down, you needed to be at the front all the time, especially with such a large field. Every time I have raced Redlands the field exploded the first time we would go up the climb that is in the circuits, then the seconds time around the bunch would explode again and then that was your field for the rest of the day, with a few getting dropped each lap thereafter.

My break didn’t succeed in reaching the circuits—really only lasted about a minute or so. But when we got caught I was now right at the front of the field where I wanted to be entering the Sunset loop. I struggled a lot less this year on the Sunset loop than in past, but I think that is because I am stronger and was at the front coming into the circuit, as about half the field was gone after two laps, which is what I had predicted. I maintained my position in the field once again Fly V set their tempo, holding the breakaway in place. I then started to struggle with three laps to go. Fly V had decided to start chasing really hard, and as soon as we hit the climb the field blew apart, and I was gapped of the back of the field. I rode another two laps solo, trying to pick off stragglers and salvage a decent result.

I was pulled from the race with one lap to go and given a pro-rated time as I was more than a minute behind the field, and that’s what they do since they can’t have too many groups out on the road. I rode down to the crit course to check the USADA list and watch the finish. Alejandro Barrajo won the sprint from the field, while Ben Day was able to hold on to his half-second lead over Ben Jacques-Maynes.

What was the hardest part of the whole race for you?
The hardest part was definitely the climb with three to go on the Sunset loop. It was the hardest part because I wanted to go harder, and, at the top, I was right there, but just couldn’t make it back to the group in front of me.

What surprised you about the race?
What surprised me really was how Fly V were able to control the race so well. The rode so well as a team together. I watched on stage two when Ben Day had a mechanical and how the team rode back to their car to tell the director to do a bike change. Remember, no radios allowed anymore. Not at the back, but they rode back to the front and had the car come past the peloton, then do an exchange, then ride back up to the front again.

Then the last stage Ben Day crashed in the feed zone with his teammate—they got right back up and straight to the front. Now I have seen that all before, but maybe it wasn’t that surprising to me as much as I was just impressed at how they were so calm and professional about it and stayed with the task at hand, no excuses.

Other than that it was just straightforward suffering, and I expected that.

What were your goals for the race? Did you achieve them?
I had two goals for the race really: to gain as much fitness as I could, and to try to place in the money: top 40 on GC. Now, for the first goal, I think I definitely met that as I felt stronger with every day I raced, including the San Dimas Stage Race earlier in the week, and felt more and more comfortable in the bunch going hard every day.

As far as placing in the top 40, I missed that goal by 29 spots, but still not all that bad since I moved up from my placing last year and also only finished 12 minutes back from the winner with my pro-rated time on the last day versus my 25 minutes back from the year before.

What did you think of the level of competition?
It was definitely the top level of domestic racing in the US. The best guys in the country were there and on form. Redlands is always hard, especially when you are coming from NYC and the winter we had this year. So many of those guys have been training in California or Arizona all winter and racing for a month or more already. Redlands is really as fast as it gets: Everyone is on top of their form and fresh, so it doesn’t get much harder.

How did it go with the team?
It went well. It is always great to start the season with a trip like this, to do some hard racing. We all get to know each other better for the rest of the season to come. For some of the riders it was definitely an eye-opener to how difficult these types of races are and where they are with their form. Hopefully, this experience will help them and their fitness and we will have a lot of success this season.

What was the highlight for you?
The best part was seeing how I did what I could this winter to train properly, and even with the horrible winter we had, I was able to build on the fitness I had last year and improve this year. Hey, I was snowshoeing in three feet of snow in Harriman with my wife two weeks before I left for California! Watching some really strong guys get dropped around me was definitely a morale booster.

What does your spring look like? Racing locally but also some bigger races too?
For the next few weeks I will just be doing some Spring Series and CRCA races, then we will be going to the Southeast Crit Series, aka Speed Week. That is my next major goal. Then we’ll be back home and do Bear Mountain and a bunch of NRC crits that are in the Northeast the month of May.

Thanks, Gavi. Best of luck.
Thanks. Good luck to you this year, too.