Sea Otter Classic Circuit Race

By Brooke Miller
Date: April 7, 2006
Category: Women Pro/1/2
Distance: 22 laps (50 Miles)
Filed Size: 66 Pre-registered
Teammates: Amy, Tracey, Jamie, Eryn, Julie and Brooke
Place: 7th
Winner: Tina Pic, Colavita Cycling

Lets start with OUCH and go from there. OUCH. Today's race was 22, (yes, 22) laps around the Laguna Seca Raceway with its famous 300ft climb and "corkscrew" on each of those memorable laps. Fortunately for me, this is a great course for someone who can powerclimb and who can descend thanks to several (ok, a few more than several) pounds of ass more than the real climbers have. But still... ouch.

The course is a blast. It starts with a gradual climb through the feedzone, where Jenni gave me hands-down THE best feed I have ever gotten. I think that she may have telepathically (or would that be telekenetically?) passed me the bottle somewhere in the race. I digress. Then, after the gradual riser, we hit the big climb. This is an out of the saddle climb that is where the OUCH comes from. But, the first part of the climb is not necessarily the worst: that comes when you THINK that the climb is over, yet you have a false flat and then another pitch up. Somehow, even after 21 laps, I still kept THINKING that I should be done climbing. Strange.

Anyway, so after the climb was the corkscrew descent. This saved me in this race because a shocking number of women are not comfortable descending at high speeds, or are so light that they cannot get up to speed. This was good for me as I could easily hit 48 MPH and pass on the inside line and sling shot up to the front of the pack even when I was barely holding on to the climb.

Then the course winds around the back where attacks can happen. Anyhoo... so here is what happened.

We started the race with a full team and feeling good and looking DAMN good. Aside from the fact that we are all just hot in general, we all had the new kits and the new bikes. We were downright smokin today. The field was pretty full and well represented with the big teams: Webcor was a huge factor, Victory, Colavita and a few Liptons. T-Mobile was not there, but the rest of the NRC riders were there and ready to make things happen.

Some things that I have learned in races like this helped me today: The first few climbs are ALWAYS hard. This race was no exception. No matter how good a warmup you get- it always hurts in the beginning. Partly it is the strong riders pushing the pace to prune the field, partly it is because you are hitting the hill for the first time. Either way, you have got to just hang on and KNOW that everyone is hurting and that it will either A) slow down and not hurt so much B) you will go numb and your brain will turn off and it won't hurt so much or C) some particularly interesting combination of A and B. Either way, it will stop hurting until the end of the race when you redefine hurting to some previously unknown level.

The other thing that I have learned in these races is that you HAVE GOT to be up front. The biggest reason is that you will get dropped when you are dangling on the back and the pace is pushed, even if it is not your fault. You can be the strongest rider in the field and get behind someone who gaps you and the next thing you know, you have been chasing and burning yourself while the field ahead has been softpedaling and munching on energy rich goodies. It is hard to recover from that. So, I have learned a thing or two... I worked hard to stay up front and ignore the pain of the first few laps.

Webcor started the race at a fast pace and started pushing the pace on the hill right away. Our team rolled out together and everyone was looking strong, but the pace was quick. The field was breaking up FAST and unfortunately, that pace held for the first 5-6 laps, and our riders got gapped behind other women who were getting shelled and worked hard to catch back on. But, at that point, the race was over for them. I really wish that they could have been there because it is GREAT to have them out there and to have a full team was wonderful. Next time.

So after that initial pruning of the field, the pace settled back into non-ouch. I am not sure if it slowed, or if I got numb and no longer felt the pain in the hill. I was focusing on a couple things: Linda had specifically told me to NOT blow myself up in the first half of the race and to be patient. I was to wait and not go on moves and just sit in and I was NOT supposed to lead the corkscrew. I focused instead on being up toward the front and trying to read to the field and see who brought what to the table. I am getting a better and better feel for who can do what and was surprised to find some riders I expected to be strong breathing hard and obviously suffering at times in the race. Some riders were backward cannonballs through the field on some of the climbs as riders would blow up here and there.

In the second half of the race, Webcor tried to orchestrate some attacks and threw off a couple on the back side of the race. Nothing could stick on the climb, but on the flat backstretch, things could definitely stick. I jumped on the wheel of some Victory rider when the first attack went off and we got caught pretty quickly. Then Webcor sent off another rider. I jumped hard to get on that one too. At this point in the race, we were about mile 35 or so out of 50, a break could be dangerous and if there was a break, come hell or high water, I was going to be in it! So, I busted my butt to get on her wheel, but then we were caught again. It became pretty apparent that nothing was going to stick. It seemed like Webcor decided to change tactics instead to burning everyone on the climb.

With 6 laps to go, Webcor (specifically, I am told, Felicia Gomez) started really pushing the climb. Back to OUCH pace. I had been doing fine on the climb all day and feeling strong and feeling good. I could easily keep the pace of the pack and would pass a few riders here and there as we climbed. But, once they decided to really punch it, I had to start hanging on for dear sweet, beloved life itself. When the pace got hot, I was working hard to hang onto the field. Thank God I can descend! As I would be dangling on the back of the pack over the crest of the hill, I knew that I was safe because I could bomb the descent and be back in good position at the front of the pack as long as there was not too big a gap. Sure enough, I got my first chance when I came a bit too close to being dropped on the climb with 5 or so laps to go. I was dangling and hurting, but I got into my tuck and went flying past the more conservative riders on the inside line. I easily caught back on to the lead riders and realized that I had done that without pedaling and while shaking my legs out. Saved me!

The last laps were more of the same and my focus was then on making sure that none of the climbers got too far in front of me to catch on with the downhill. I started to make sure that I was at the front of the field, so that as my legs blew up on the climbs, I would have room to move back and not lose too much position. I was really struggling with 3 and 2 laps to go, thinking that my legs really could not do much more, but just as they felt like they had enough, I would get a break on the downhill and suck some mad wheel on the backside, giving them a rest and then I would do it all over again.

On the last lap, I dug deep. Really deep. Linda was on the top of the hill yelling at me to go harder and I did. (She had been up there all day, and she kept telling me things about the race and cheering me on when I was suffering. It was AWESOME to have her there!) I moved up and more importantly, I was right in the thick of things for the descent. I moved up again on the downhill, but by this point, many riders had caught on to my trick and the pace was getting quicker downhill. So, I did not move up as much as I wanted. On the back, I found that I was not in the position that I needed to be and looked to move up. I found some wheels to move me up, but I can't remember who I was on. Going around the second to last corner, I was sitting on some wheel moving up into position for the sprint and my momentum was taking me into the curve, when Christine Thornburn from Webcor had a healthy dose of momentum taking her outside the curve and into my leg. Her handlebars hit my hip pretty hard and she started to lose control. I moved left and gave her more room to recover and she unclipped and nearly went down. She recovered and she and I both started to get back into the sprint position. That did throw me off a bit on my sprint, but I was still delighted to have some semblance of strength left in my legs and pulled 7th. Christine finished in front of me.