Mark's Santa Cruz/Sea Otter Race Report

Santa Cruz Classic Crit, Beach Hill

April 15, 2012

45+ Cat 1,2,3

Riders: 52



So Devon and I did this race last year in the 35+ cat 4 class and we both put it on the box(2nd and 3rd ). This year we went down to Santa Cruz and raced with much faster guys(cat1,2,3). The weather was great. The race was fast. The course has a hairpin turn and a short climb(about 60 ft over 200 yards). We sprinted out of the hair pin and up the hill every lap. In the 4s, we’d hammer the hill and take the lead. In the 1,2,3’s we’d hammer the hill just to hold position. Passing was hard, and if you let up, you got relegated to the back. There were a couple of crashes right by me. One up the hill and one in the hairpin. A gap formed after the hairpin crash so I pulled the peloton back up to the top eight riders. It hurt. There’s not a lot to say other than “it was hard”. I came into the last turn of the last lap in around 14th. In the final sprint up the hill, I passed some guys(some cat 1’s!) and some guys passed me(including Devon). I ended up 14th and Devon got 12th. The top Cat threes finished 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th…..all really close. Devon and I weren’t happy with the result and felt we could have done better if we had pushed harder on the last lap. At least that’s what I thought until I looked at the Data. The race averaged 23.8mph, yet the last lap was a bit over 26mph. My average heart rate was 167 for the entire race and 179 for the last lap. I was hitting 186 bpm nearly every time up the hill. There were a few laps that went a little easier up that god forsaken hill. I don’t think there was much left for me to do a lot better. Devon probably could have done better if he had pushed harder on the last lap, but passing was tough. I can say that I gave it all I had and that was it for that day. Cheers. –Mark


Sea Otter Crit

April 19, 2012

45+ 1,2,3

Riders: not sure…40+?

So after that Santa Cruz race, I started feeling crappy on the drive home. ….Like I was bonking……shaky and weak. So I knew I had a race on Thursday so I took it really easy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I went to bed super early, ate well, etc. But I couldn’t shake this weak bonky crappy feeling like I was blown out, I knew I was screwed, but hoped that I’d find my mojo somewhere. I have two sick kids at home, so maybe I was fighting something, I don’t know, but I was weak….and still am. It’s funny, before the race I said to Tom Rice, “I feel crappy”, then his wife, Kate chimes in, “Don’t make excuses.” I just shake my head, I know how I feel. Andrew A. went down to the race with me. He re-injured his rib on Tuesday(or Monday) and couldn’t pull up on the bars or breath very well; this was not a course on which to have a bad day.


Andrew and I warmed up together as Tom Rice was warming down after his Cat 4 victory. We had a nice chat, and I still felt weak. When I did my hard pre-race efforts, it was uncharacteristically painful to get my pulse up…..uh oh. We head over to the start of the race. I clip in and hang on to the railing. When the whistle blows, I take off and lead the thing over the hill. I feel crappy. There’s a hair pin turn on each end of the crit. I lead through that and hammer up the hill. I think, Maybe no one will pass and I can slow this race down to a level I can handle. Then they blow by me at the top of the hill. I’m relegated to mid pack. Then they all line up on the left side of the track for the right hander at the end of the back straight……like they have 200 horse power and are setting up for the corner. I blow up the inside and pass twenty riders and take the lead…again. This goes on for a couple of laps until a real attack came on the front straight. I feel weak, and am barely able to hang on to the front pack. Now that I’m not leading through the turns, it gets much harder. The slinky effect is killing me. My speed through the hairpins(according to my computer) went from 16.4mph(when leading) to as slow as 12.8mph(when following). Then we’d have to sprint to catch on. The two guys in front of me blow up on the front straight. Now there’s a gap I have to close. We’ve only been racing for 20 minutes. There’s three guys off of the front group of ten to twelve guys. Then me….and I’m pulling ten guys around and slowly reeling in the group. I feel crappy. My pulse won’t go over 178 no matter how hard I push, something is wrong with me. It’s one thing to suffer, but to suffer when you feel strong is way better than suffering when you feel weak. Then my inner voice starts talking, “…..the front pack is getting further away…..no one will help me….my redline pulse is over 5% lower than what it normally is….I have to race Saturday…this race sucks….I feel crappy….I can’t do this any more….what’s wrong with me?......there’s 25 minutes left…..holy crap, there’s no way…..I must be sick…..I’ll be out for weeks if I try to push through…..why won’t my pulse go up?.....why does it hurt so much?….why do I suck?....maybe if I stop now I can get it together for Saturday.” Then as I cross the start finish line with a bunch of guys of my wheel, I raise my hand so no one will hit me, pull over and stop. I was done. Something was definitely wrong, my pulse wouldn’t go to where it normally does. I was weak. Sometimes, when you don’t feel well, racing sucks. This was one of those times.

Andrew cracked shortly after me. His re-injured rib wouldn’t allow him to breath deeply or pull up on the bars. On this course you needed to get a full breath and crank on the bars really hard, every lap. As soon as he gave up he started to go backwards…but at least he finished. We wallowed in our sorrow for a few minutes, but then realized doing crappy was still better than being at work(for me anyway). The last time I felt this bad going into a race(Patterson 2010) I did poorly as well. Note to self: when you feel crappy going into a race….you won’t ride well! -Mark