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What Mike Z. saw:
Category: Masters 30+ 4/5
Result: Mid-pack
I put my results in the last paragraph for those who want to skip the long discourse.
This is a fantastic race and venue. I got up about 5:00 am on Friday to drive from my B&B in Carmel to the race track. I got there as registration opened, received my number and electronic ankle bracelet and started warming up on the trainer and then went to the track about 30 minutes before my race. As I was warming up on the hill that leads up to the cork-screw, a little rain was falling. Some guy came down from the cork-screw (reverse direction) and was flying through the 90 degree right turn when he went down and skidded right at me. He stopped well short of me, but his water bottle ended up at my tire so I picked it up and handed it to him. He was fine although his hand looked pretty messed up. It certainly gave me a sense of how slick the track would be with even a tiny bit of rain. (Foreshadowing)
The race starts on the track, quickly exits, climbs a short hill and then heads into the only long major downhill section. I was about 20 - 30 racers back coming down this hill at about 40 mph and I now know how the Millenium Falcon felt when Han Solo took it through the asteroid field to escape the Imperial Starship. I got pinged everywhere, the scariest ones being the ones that come straight at your glasses. The pelting ended up being the lesser of my scares on that downhill section. I thought the speed on the first corner would get to me, but I was fine with that too. The main scare came when one of the other racers passed me on the right about halfway down the hill. His front wheel was wobbling massively and he was doing all he could to keep in a straight line and not crash. He was trying to slow down and move to the left side of the road, which he did as soon as he passed me. Fortunately, I didn't hit him and made it passed him and through the meteor shower safely.
The course winds its way up and down the rollers on Fort Ord, with one small extended climb (250') before hitting the major climb. The major climb accounts for something like 800 vertical feet of the climbing each lap. I tried to stay somewhere near the front during most of this, but we were climbing at a pretty rapid pace and it was really hard to pass because the road was so packed. >From the bottom of this climb, the next two laps were fairly uneventful. I tried to get to the front on the uphill so I would be hit with less pebbles on the way down and tried to get to the front when I knew a tricky corner was coming up, which was a benefit of having ridden 5 laps on this course in practice.
By the beginning of the 3rd and last time up the major hill section, there was about half the field of 100 left in a group. I had moved back up to 10th or 15th back and began my charge up the hill for the last time as the rain began to fall (more foreshadowing). I felt pretty strong climbing and kept up a good cadence although in a smaller gear. Unfortunately, other riders were keeping up a good cadence in a larger gear. Some of those guys were really strong. I guessed I was about 20 to 30 back when I came onto Laguna Seca track. I thought about pushing it to see if I could pass a couple of people in front of me when the guy 30 meters in front of me went down on Mario Andretti corner (I think). It is a 180 degree left hand turn. I put on my brakes and tried to go wide, but his bike spurted out and almost forced me off the track. Good Karma was with me though since I had given another racer a drink from my bottle half way through the third lap. He had lost one of his. Anyway, I made it around the bike and finished 500 meters later. The poor guy who went down had to be carted off in an ambulance. Carl's report might have more on this situation because he saw the ambulance, I didn't. So, the day of racing ended for me exactly as it had started. Someone had crashed right in front of me due to the rain-slick track.
Results: The posted final results had me finishing 2:06 back from the leader and in 22nd place. I was very happy with my results. My goal was to be with the lead group when the major climb started at the end of the race which I accomplished. Then, it was a matter of strength and conditioning. The guys that finished in front of me were simply stronger than I was at the end of the race. Only thing I can do about that is train a little harder or hire an Italian sports physician. I am already looking forward to next year.
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What Carl saw:
Category: Masters 40+ 4/5
Result: Mid-pack
I would like to give my take on an expensive and disappointing weekend at the Sea Otter Classic.
I participated in the +40 cat 4/5 road race on Friday morning. I started off OK with the group and took my share of the rocks to the head, hands and bike (nicks in the paint) on the first time through the down hill section then lost the group on the following climb (not enough warm-up) and regrouped with the field a little later. As the group got into the rollers I lost my chain off the chain rings and by the time I got back going I had lost the group and was now in for a 45 mile training ride, which I was Ok with and pushed myself around the course in a personally respectable time (big improvement over my pre-ride 4 or 5 weeks earlier).
During the second lap I caught Kent on one of the hills and dueled with him for a while, I would pass him on the hills and then he would zoom past me on the descents (we were in separate races and were not to work together, pre-race rules). Now comes the disappointing part, I met up with Mike and we went to the results posting area and found the results for his race and waited around for my results then went to get something to eat and then came back and waited for another hour for my race results and nothing (Mikes race finished maybe 5-10 minutes ahead of mine).
At this time Mike went to meet up with his wife and I went to check out the displays, upon my return the results of my race had been posted and I was not listed on the results at all (so much for the electronic ankle timing gizmo) so I walked over to the USCF officials area to ask what had happened and was give a very rude blow off, he said the results had been there for quite a while and tough luck and I'm done for the day and barged past me with out any consideration.
Well that pretty much broke my spirit for the weekend, I knew I was not going on the podium but getting counted was something I had been training and looking forward to since I had decided to take up racing again at the end of last year and joined the club. So I trudged up to my campsite ($120) and had my canned dinner and sat/slept through the evenings rain storms. The next morning I was supposed to the 8 am circuit race but bailed because of not feeling very sharp when I awoke and didn't want to take my chances in the rain.
I will admit that the SOC is a cool event in terms of atmosphere, lots of booths to check out and a bicycling mentality everywhere but for competing I am not so sure.
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What Kent saw:
Category:
Result: Mid-pack
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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