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jeropkin
Forum Admin
Myanmar (Burma)
938 Posts |
 Posted - 04/17/2005 : 9:49:05 PM
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Race: Sea Otter RR
Date: 4/16/2005
Distance: 6 laps plus some for 69 miles
Teammates: Chad (7th) and Eric Stephen (30th)
Result: 11th
Again the guy to watch was Michael Hutchinson, and this time he had a crew of 6 or 7 teammates to help. CVC was probably the next largest team with 3 guys, and a slew of strong men from around the west coast, including alaska.
What was interesting to me was how so many guys were able to hang on in this race up to the final climb. The circuit race from the day before completely blew the field apart about 30 minutes in. This race was over 3 hours and a lot of guys (20+ minus the 3 off the front) hit the final climb together.
As it were, we wanted to make sure one of us was in any break that had a Spine guy in it, and for the most part we did just that. The waters were tested on the second lap, and we all covered the various attacks that started up. It worked well (for a while), and the three of us with some help from the Circuit race winner, lot of help from Gus, and a few other strong men kept Spine at bay.
However the cream always rises to the top and in the midst of a series of attacks on the fourth lap, a small break which i didn't initiate but I did bridge up to ended up having Hutchinson and another Spine rider in it. A couple of the guys in the break stopped working, despite the fact that 3 of the top 10 riders from the Circuit Race were in it, and the peloton started to close. Huchinson took off again, and he pulled a teammate and one other with him. I was gassed and couldn't cover it, and then they were gone.
Spine blocked some, then with the gap to the leaders being over 3 minutes, they started attacking the group. I was pretty ticked and chased most of them down. Gus seemed pretty frustrated at the negative racing. Everyone was pretty tired.
We hit the final climb out of the circuits, a 5 km stairstepper that finished almost at the top. My kind of climb. A couple climbers took off early, and the pace stayed pretty high. Riders were dropping like flies, and the carnage was complete. a 20-man grupetto blew apart and scattered themselves all over the hill. I worked hard and caught several that had gotten off, but couldn't close on on the leaders. I got punked at the last second by the circuit race winner, he took 10th and I ended up 11th.
Then Eric Stephen rolls up on a brand new yellow mavic bike. seems his rear derailleur exploded all over the place.
Disappointing result for me, but a hard and fair race and another top 10 for CVC with Chad working hard to grab 7th. And nice work by all despite being a minority team. |
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estephen
Starting Member
USA
9 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2005 : 10:29:18 PM
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Race: Sea Otter RR
Date: 4/16/2005
Distance: 69 miles
Teammates: Jon & Chad
Result: Dissapointing
This was my first time doing Sea Otter and I was very pleased with the course. It seemed to have a little bit of everything. As we were about to complete our final lap and head into the finishing climb, I was doing a lot of shifting to spin up all the rollers in attempt to save my legs for the coming efforts. With about five miles to go, I shifted from big to small ring ... the $125 shift! My shift somehow dropped the chain and sent my chain into my rear wheel, carrying the rear derailleur with it. This not only snapped my derailleur in half, but eventually caused my wheel to seize up. So at that point, I'm skidding along until my tubular explodes from being grinded down to the rim. This is that situation where as it happens, you just hear a bunch of bad stuff happening down on the bike and parts griding like you know they shouldn't. I didn't even want to look down to see what had happened. The kind of noise where everyone hears it and says "Ah, that sucks" as they ride off not passing a glance. It was funny that afterward Chad says, "Man, that was you? I heard that."
Anyway, the mavic support vehicle was right behind and came to my rescue. After we spent some time evaluating the damage, I chose to ride the last few miles on a mavic bike. They ask me what size bike I ride, which I say 58, and the guy says, "Great. We have a 54." Then we had to take my pedals off, place them on the new bike, and I'm off. My next and immediate challenge was trying to shift the darn bike. Campy. Who rides that stuff?? I was shifting the wrong direction all the way to the finish where I rolled in on the brightest yellow bike on the planet.
Take away: Great course and fun bike festival. I have good fitness and felt very active in the race, but another dissapointing result due to circumstances somewhat out of my control. That's racing. Jon and Chad are riding excellent and were never in trouble. I think all would agree that we are having fun racing together and that's what it's all about in the large scheme of things. |
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Chad
Starting Member
13 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2005 : 08:07:01 AM
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Sea Slaughter RR
Masters 30+ 1.2.3
Team: Eric, Jon and Chad
TOUGH course. The thing about the RR course is that you are never at a disadvantage being in a breakaway because everyone in the race has to do quite a lot of work even just to stay in the pack. In this race it is best to be aggressive and stay on your toes. The course wears on everyone, whether you are right up front or hanging on at the back. CVC did a good job of covering moves and being a part of the race. I think we are learning to race together...even with only three guys we were able to be a pretty serious factor in the race. Jon and Eric rode tremendously. Both Jon and Eric suprised me with how strong they are and with there ability to get into dangerous moves.
Jon and Eric summed up the race pretty well. When we got to the bottom of the finish climb a few guys went up the road and after some strong tempo from Gus, I put in a little acceleration and then settled doen to realing in the early attackers. Only one guy was able to go with me and we got back all the guys who had attacked intially. A little under 200 meters to go I showed those guys I had a little punch left and put 20 meters into the other three riders I was with. Jon rode strong to finish in a group right behind us. Eric surely would have been top 15 as well without the bike debacle. A great showing from a strong three man team. |
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Sea Otter RR: M30+1/2/3
