Coach Thrasher

Race Report: Sea Otter Classic Circuit Race

Event: Sea Otter Classic Circuit Race
Category: Elite 3
Teammates: Matt, Greg, Ben, Mike, me
Result: OTB, DNF, of 73 starters only 49 finished Official Results

Ugh, my first road race of the season did not go well, but all is not lost! I really wanted to start at the Sea Otter since I've never raced at that event and it's a huge 4-day bike festival with many pro riders attending. So, I registered and headed down to gorgeous Monterey CA for the Circuit Race.

The course is actually -on- the Laguna Seca race track. This really adds to the event since all of the corners are nicely banked, and all of the pavement is really smooth (~2.3 mile circuit). From the start, you climb gradually at first, and then you have to stand, to get up a 200ft elevation gain. There's a screaming decent through the "corkscrew", and some nice tight banked turns and winds around back to the start/finish.

I was well warmed up and stretched for the start. I made it up the hill with the pack easily the first time up. The second time was a little harder and I anticipated this by moving to the front and letting myself drift back as we climbed the hill. The third time up I used the same drift technique but just barely lost contact with the tail of the pack. We were only 15 minutes in to the race though, so I tried to chase back on. I managed to keep from getting lapped for about 46 minutes.

Every minute or so I'd ride past another rider who had been dropped. A few of them worked with me to try to chase back on, but there was really no hope with that hill in the way. What was left of the pack at that point came flying by on the uphill and I pulled out to become a spectator. We only had Ben, Greg, and Mike left in the field.

The last two laps looked fast. The finish came down to a field sprint in which 6 riders were head-to-head to the line. Eric Barlevav from the "Bicycle John's Serious Cycling" team won.

I need to get more miles in to be competitive. Coaching has taken a lot of time this year away from my own training. Realistically, I've got to get 12-16 hours of riding and rowing in per week which likely won't happen until the spring rowing season ends.

Posted at 09:56AM Apr 07, 2006 by jason in Cycling  |  Comments[0]