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What Mark saw:
Category: Beginner 35-39
Result: Mid-pack
At last I get to submit a race report :-) I got up at 4am took the dogs for an hour walk , had some breakfast then drove down to my favorite motor racing circuit. It was quite cool when I got there but things soon warmed up. I took the chance to ride the wrong way up the corkscrew, a thing that would be frowned upon in a racing car or motorcycle, and watched some of the earlier riders as race preparation. Laguna Seca is a special place to me and as such I was in very good spirits.
I wasnt expecting to do well as my off road preparation was absolutely zero but I was determined to have fun. I was a bit concerned with my choice of a "MT Baldy" semi slick for the back but I am convinced that they made a big difference when climbing.
The race started quite quickly and I was determined to get near the front (pre warned about the bottle neck by Andy) but some guy actually fell off in front of me on the way up the first climb and ruined any chances I had. There were some crazy traffic jams out on the circuit and it was a bit frustrating to be stood around for what felt like minutes at some points on the circuit. It took me a while to get into the descending and I definitely had too much pressure in my tires which made it a bit bone jarring. As the race went on I got faster and faster on the descents and I was climbing very well. My hard tail is brutal on the rough stuff but it flies on the fire roads and uphills.
I made up loads of places on the climbs and fire roads though especially on the last big climb. Once I got back onto the car racing circuit my hard tire pressures gave me a real advantage and I got up another 10 positions.
I certainly didnt place anywhere but it was Great fun!!!!!!!
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What Brian J. saw:
Category: Beginner 40-44
Result: Mid-pack
WHOO-HOO......!!
Andy and I had a rippen time! Smile! Andy got 7th. place! Right on Andy! He was working it! For myself I got 29th place. Now let me tell you. I started out approximately #150 racers back in a field of #250 racers. You don't win mtb. races starting that far back, but you sure can give them hell!! Smile! I felt great! All the climbs, I was ripping the legs of these guys (Gary B. term) Smile! The more I hurt some of these guys the better I felt. To tell you the truth, I passed so many racers. I thought I might have a chance to be in the top 5, but as I stated earlier, you don't win, starting in the back. I will tell more later.
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What Santiago saw:
Category: Sport
Result: Mid-pack
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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What Andy saw:
Category: Clydesdale
Result: Top ten
I would first like to say it was great to see 4 Fremont Freewheelers out racing off road at Sea Otter.
Carrie and I went down Saturday night and had dinner with Brian (he was all alone but thats a another story.) After dinner it was off to Janet's parents house in Aptos for the night. 6am came early. Breakfast, a quick call to Brain at 7:15am. "I'm all ready at the track" Carrie, Kirk, Janet and I were off 15 minutes later. We were there in time to see Brian before his race started at 9:00am.and in plenty of time for my start at 10 o'clock. I also got to see Mark King and old Bill Riesgner.
Before the start I worked my way to the front of the Clydesdale group. This is important as I learned from last years poor start. Too many bodies to pass on the up and coming climbs makes it difficult for moving up and placing higher. For myself I had a fast race and enjoyed myself on my new bike. I passed whenever traffic got to bad. I only had one close call for the day. All in all a great day. I came away with 7th place. Not to bad after all things considered for the way the year started. Broken bike and separated shoulder.
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