Body Concepts Bicycle Race Team – Race Results:
Date: 2013-04-19 Sea Otter Classic Road Race 45+ 4
Race Report: 2013 Sea Otter Classic Road Race Report: by Rod Rozman
Teammates: MattC, RandyF, RandyV, MikeE, JohnE
Course: About 53mi and 5400ft (6 laps of a 7.8 mile loop through hilly roads [about 780 feet of climb per lap] + a final 2.3 mile, ~800′ climb); pretty good road surface, but with a couple of sections of small potholes; no centerline rule
Weather: Perfect. Sunny, ~55-65 degrees; not much wind
Race plan: Stay in the front group, stay out of the wind, and go for it on the final climb. I placed 8th in this race last year, and my goal was to do better this year…. so I trained up a bit to get ready 😉
Race: The group stayed fairly large (35+?) as we went round the 6 laps. A few short attacks happened (none in the feed zone like last year!), but they were quickly pulled back. Not much drama, but enough effort to start wearing out legs. Our similarly hilly weekend team rides and the extra training was paying off….the legs felt good and I stayed in the front 5 or so guys for the 6 laps. As usual, everyone left was waiting for the final 2.3mi climb to the finish.
We rounded the final right hand turn, and slowly the group started to split up. I found myself at the front at about 1.5mi to go as the road gradually steepened. I’m now wondering how soon the group would start the mad dash to the finish. But as we rolled on, nobody went around me. Humm. I figured that at 1 mile out I’d give it all I had, and see what happened, hopefully not blowing up the legs too soon. Not many folks hung around close for the final 1/2 mile, legs still holding up… and I see 2 guys on my wheel. Oh, Oh…now I’m wondering if I blundered and just gave a nice lead-out to 2 strong climbers. It’s now become a 20 second chess match.
With the finish line in sight, 150′ to go, I’m still in the lead. I’m going to win this thing! I hear Matt yelling from the sidelines: ‘Sprint! Don’t let him pass!’. Now the legs are on fire… 40′ to go…and the guy on my wheel (Tim Page from San Diego) just pips me in the last 30 feet. Ah!!! Guess I need to work on my uphill sprinting when the legs are completely blown ;-). Second place still tasted good. A nice ego boosting podium photo and a bag of swag. 3rd place was Mike’s friend Ryo just 1 second back. Mike was just behind in 6th place.
Lesson #1: We can’t expect different results if we don’t change something. Compared to last year, the extra training and a few lost lbs of body fat really made a difference for me this year.
Lesson #2: Don’t give nice lead outs to strong uphill sprinters 😉 I probably should have left a little more gas in the tank for that final 30ft. Next year….. Sea Otter info for those going next year: – The packet pickup opens at 7am each morning. With ~8am race start times, and 20 minutes waiting in line to get numbers, I was sweating it a bit. They need to open earlier… so be forewarned. Best to pickup the night before, but that closes at 6pm… not user friendly in my opinion. – If you drive any type of hybrid car, or a Volkswagen, you get to park on nice pavement right next to the race track. Otherwise parking up on the hill is sandy and a bit of a walk/ride to the reg area and start