Sea Otter Classic-NOW men's race report

Hi this is Stephen Leece reporting on the NOW-MS Mens team and our experience at the 2010 Sea Otter Classic. The event is a big ordeal with 4 days of road and mountain bike racing at the Laguna Seca raceway and the area surrounding it. Many of the major companies in the cycling industry are there as well with booths set up.

On Thursday, Cory Greenberg, Kit Karzen, Aaron Schneider and I lined up to race the Sea Otter criterium. The course was boomerang shaped with two technical turnarounds and the race was timed for one hour. It was fast from beginning. Bissel Pro cycling team and Yahoo had come in numbers and were intent on forcing a break. This was the sort of action we would be seeing all weekend. The turnarounds and a riser in the course dramatically reduced the field as the racing was very aggressive. At around 25 minutes I was the last NOW-MS man standing in the main field. A group of 4 Bissel riders led and a chase group of 8-10 was behind them. The race solidified and I stuck in for the field sprint and managed 5th in 6th in that.

Corey Farrell increased our numbers to 5 on Friday as we headed out into the hills for a 68 mile road race. The course was laps of a hilly loop with an uphill finish and one difficult steep climb per lap. It was aggressive at the beginning again for a four laps until a breakaway of 2 Bissel and 2 Yahoo got away. Kurt, my mom, and the neutral feeders kept us well hydrated throughout the race. A hard pace up the hill got the better of Aaron and Kit. Cory G. and I were dropped on the final climb but we managed to catch up to the field before the finish. At the finish, Corey F. finished strong up the hill and placed top 15 with u23 and P/1/2 combined. In u23 category alone, he placed 3rd while Cory G. and I rounded out 4th and 5th. After getting on the podium we got to meet and greet some of our sponsors at their booths like Sierra Nevada and Gu.

The circuit race on Saturday would wrap up our racing in Monterey. Our start was at 2:30 but we came early because Kit had some interviewing to do with SRAM. We also were at the course to cheer on the women's team with Phil Keoghan who provided an entertaining impression of Lawrence of Arabia (see photo). After a team meeting and a good warm-up, we rolled up to the line ready to race. The course has one short and tough climb followed by a fast descent that began to cause separations even early in the race. Aggressive racing again whittled down the field which had been the largest of the three days. Midway through the race, a breakaway of three riders got away on the climb and was able to build a sizeable gap. With three laps to go, the Bissel riders in the main group drilled it up the hill and gapped the field. I was just on the edge of the group that formed with them but could not hold their wheel up the climb and had to fall back to the peloton. On the final lap, I attacked early and barely held on as Cory G. came in winning the field sprint right behind me. This put me in 5th in the u23 category and so I made the podium for a second day.

Racing at Sea Otter was painful but rewarding this year, as well as a lot of fun. Thanks to Kurt for getting us host housing which turned out to be amazing. Kit was happy to make friends with the hospitable `mom' and `sis' of the Herbst family and it was good to live and race as a team. The pro's from Bissel were a good model of how to race both aggressively and successfully as a team which provided a good learning experience for us.

I hope you've enjoyed the race report and that it's not too long.
Thanks for reading!
Stephen Leece