NOW at Sea Otter Pro/1/2 Race

Here is the report for the Pro/1/2 races at the Sea Otter Classic this past weekend. The NOW MS-Society representation consisted of Aaron Schneider, Pete Rennie, Spencer Smitheman and for two of the three events, Kit Karzen. The events were held at the Laguna Seca Raceway and neighboring military base.

April 16th - Crit: The criterium was the first event off and featured a part of the race track in an odd hotdog shape with a few sharp turns and a minor hill each lap. The race strung out from the gun with Bissell keen on dominating the race. All was fine until a Landrover-Orbea rider went down sitting about 20th wheel. I was immediatley forced to chase a large gap, being on his wheel. The race split into three groups here as Bissell sent 3 riders up the road and the peloton split. I made it onto the back end of the pack along with the rest of the team. After my effort, I slid back, tired from the chase. Soon another near-crash in front of me caused another gap to open, but this time I had to chase from the back and had a hard time with the gap. For two or three laps, I sat just off the back, burrying myself to get back on. Trying to finally bridge the gap, I flew around one of the corners with too much speed and hit some gravel, finding myself sliding on my right side soon after. I chased for a while, but was pulled with a group when we were half a lap down. Aaron continued on in the chase group and was just lapped on the last lap, ending up 35th as our only finisher.

April 17th - Road Race: This loomed as a big day with the start list showing off some serious talent. Of note on the start line was Levi Leipheimer, the Borrajo brothers, Luis Arman, Jaques-Maynes brothers, Chris Jones plus a plethora of Bissell riders and other pros. The race had an ominous feeling to it during the neutral start as we headed up the main climb and already many had their suffer faces on. Départ Reel was at the top of the climb and the next lap leading back to the climb was the only time most of us saw Levi. We started the climb for the first real time and the pack splintered into 3 or 4 groups. The first group of 15, headed by Levi and Ben Jaques-Mayne stayed away until the end while the next two groups formed the peleton. Aaron and I found ourselves in that main group alongside some very big name riders. The next couple of laps were for myself, a lesson in suffering. I had to motivate myself beyond traditional standards to get over the climb with the ever dwindling group. After that, it seemed to become easier and easier with California Giant Berry on the front and the speed steady. Approaching the finishing climb, there was some jockeying, but nothing serious as we were riding in for 16th place. In the end, Aaron ended up 28th and I was 33rd.

April 18th - Circuit Race: Definately the hardest day, the circuit race featured full laps of the race course with a wall of climbing on the back side and "the corkscrew" descent, famous in auto racing for it's aggressive pitch and turns. Early on in the race, both Kit and I were off the back. I couldn't really explain mine; I had considered attacking the lap before and wasn't feeling that bad, but sometimes that happens in racing. About halfway through the race the pack shattered and both Pete and Aaron were in a large group about a minute and a half from the breakaway. The gap progressively opened and soon after their group was pulled. It was hard for us to be too demoralized by the DNF as only 15 riders remained on the course by the finish.

Up next for the Elite U25 team is a split between the Dana Point Grand Prix and the Vuelta a Bisbee. I will personally be doing Bisbee along with Pete Rennie and Joseph Ainsworth.

Spencer
__._,_