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What Jeff saw:
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Result: Did not finish
Summary: Pulled from the race due to late start, DNF.
This one was a bummer. The hill on the track was interested and I was eager to see what it would do to the pack. I did some laps of warmup. It was raining before the start and Vaseline really helped here. The 180 degree turn Mike talks about was treacherous. I slid on it twice.
The race was to start at 8AM, but due to electrical failure, it was delayed until 8:30. I rode some more laps slowly to keep warm and kill the anxiety, went to the car to remove my helmet visor and went to the bathroom. When I approached the starting line at 8:27, an official told me to get off the course.
"But I'm IN THIS RACE." "Ok, they've got 3/4 of a lap on you. Hurry!"
I raced up the hill as fast as I could. As I reached the corkscrew I saw the pack making it's way to the hairpin turn. It was just embarrassing to be there. I think the gawkers must have been thinking, "Gee, this guy really sucks."
It was pretty discouraging. I thought that I might have a chance of catching the pack if I could work the hills. Could I have just thrown in the towel? Yeah, it really seemed like a good idea once my breath had a whiff of blood in it. But hell, I paid good money to have my body tortured so if it wasn't going to be a race, then it was just going to have to be a fruitless time trial.
I did this for 2 laps, watching my back. Maybe if I wasn't lapped, I could stay in the race? I started to pass some stragglers when the officials just told me to quit.
I found out from the official that they had actually started the race at 8:25. I don't know why they did this but, in general, I found Sea Otter to be highly disorganized. I took my girlfriend on the fun ride, and there was no indication from the parking area about where to start.
The Bicycling Magazine fun ride was also not fun. The ride leaders led people up a 18% grade. I had no complaints but my girlfriend doesn't have a granny gear. As she made it to the top, the Mavic support car came by and told everyone to go back down the hill since we'd gone the wrong way. Arrows were few and far between, only to be found at intersections. I think arrows every 200 meters is a good idea to let people know they're going the right way.
Eventually, she bonked and hitched a ride in the Mavic car. It was kind of fun chasing the Mavic car, especially since I had to get my girlfriend back to work in the afternoon.
Anyone doing the Santa Cruz Crit?
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What Kent saw:
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I have to say that the Sea Otter Races were a lot of fun. I have also gained more respect for the guys who can fly up those hills with incredible ease. It was an inspiring event. One that motivates me to try harder and plan for next years race. The best road event was the circuit race. I don't know how Mike or Carl or Jeff felt on that initial descent, but my stomach dropped just as I rolled up and over it. Then at about half way down, you are rolling at 50+ mph and as you lean to the left, passing under the bridge, a gale force wind hits you from the left front side. If you aren't expecting it, the wind pushes you into and upright position even though you are trying to corner at a high speed. I can't imagine what speed I could reach if there wasn't a head wind. But it was exhilirating. I finished the road race and the circuit race. See you all at the next race eh!
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What Santiago saw:
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I'm with you Brian, I had a great time doing the Sport MTB race. I have no clue what my placing was, but I hope is fairly good. I started going hard up the hill and got into the single trail in around 25+ place, from then on I spend the rest of the race passing lots of people, specially on the climbs. Now, I have no idea which Cat they were, because we caught the other fields right in the first couple of miles. Anyway it was great to do a MTB race again, it's a lot of fun. BTW it was good to see you at the start line, too bad you were not on the same race :-((
Regarding the circuit race, I felt pretty good, but again, don't know my final placing but I was there for the bunch sprint. It was a good pace overall, but the last climb was a sprint all the way up, I did manage to stay on the top ten on that final climb, but another 20 guys or so close the small gap, we had opened, on the down hill, since the guy leading the pack went down all by himself, so we regroup with around 1.5k to go , and there we were in another bunch sprint. Didn't make it to the top ten, but somewhere there.
I had a great time in both races, saw some of you guys before the races, but not after, so didn't have the chance to share the experience... anyway, I'm sure we'll have time in the next meeting.
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