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What Richard saw:
Category: 4
Result: Did not finish
Cat's Hill is a great event, and I am sorry I haven't raced it before.
Racing up the 23% hill is an experience and a lesson in proper gear
selection and anticipation, something I could have used a little in the
Berkeley Hills RR.
Mike Z., Ziggy and I were in the Senior 4 race. I had walked the course
before the 5's raced and though I hadn't ridden the hill, I had a fairly
good idea of how it would feel at race speed - painful. However, I
wasn't quite prepared for the level of pain.
I stayed with the bunch (at the back of 70-odd riders) for, I think 4
laps before getting tailed off. My problem was not the hill, but rather
the accelerations having crested the hill. The rise around the first
turn at the park is a killer. So much so that I got a pain in my chest
with the effort and I wasn't able to stay with the bunch.
Mike Z. got tailed around the same time, but ws strong enough to chase
back on - an excellent piece of riding. I was content to try to recover
with my group of riders, the majority of which seemed to be Alto Velo
riders. The group was pulled at the end of lap 7 of 12 and I rolled
round to the base of the hill to watch the rest of the race.
Ziggy was in his usual position: consistently near the front. Mike was
hanging at the back. The second to last time up the climb there was yet
another crash climbing the hill, presumably caused by a rider shifting
and the shift failing, presumably by the chain dropping, as he went down
pretty quickly. Unfortunately for Mike, this was right in front of him
and he had to take evasive action which tailed him off the back and
forced him to chase back on again.
The spectators on the hill watched the final climb and then streamed to
the finish. A rider obviously attacked over the top of the hill and
stayed away for the win. Ziggy came in in what looked to me around 12th
position. An excellent result.
For some reason, Cat's Hill has one of the safest feeling crit courses I
have ridden. I am looking forward to next year already.
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What Mike Z. saw:
Category: 4 and M35+ 4/5
Result: Mid-pack
I raced two races today, the Sr. 4 at 10:30 am and the M35+ 4-5 in the afternoon.
Sr. 4 - I was planning to only do 6 laps and then quit. I wanted to experience the course at race pace and do anything I could to help Ziggy for the first few laps, but stay rested for the afternoon's race. I stayed at the back of the pack for most of the race. Unfortunately, this meant a lot of chasing. After the 6th lap, since I hadn't fallen or flatted, I decided I should take every chance I have at finishing while on my bike and continued the race. After getting gapped up the hill when someone fell in front of me on the 10th lap. I was content to finish on my own. I put it in the low gear and sat and spun up the hill (as much as a 23% allows). I think I finished 36th out of 74 but I can't quite remember.
M35+ 4-5 - I was right at the front for the start of this one and Carl was right behind me. Cat's Hill is not a race to race from behind. It is hard to pass a lot of people on this course. I stayed in front pretty much the whole first lap and stayed near the front for the first 5. Laps 6 and 7 I wanted to quit and drifted farther back.
When I saw 4 laps to go, I started moving up to be in the top 5 for the remainder. I'm not sure what happened, but I would almost swear that the 4 laps to go card was showing, we rode one more lap (now 3 to go) and on the next hill climb, I put a lot of ground between me and the field. When I saw the gap form, I stayed out of the saddle and continued sprinting hard through the false summit, up and over the little rise and continued pounding to the downhill. I had a pretty big gap at this point and as I came through the start / finish line I expected to see 2 laps to go. Instead I saw 3 laps to go and a confused looking "laps to go" scorer. It was going to be a longer effort than I had planned.
I could swear that somebody screwed this up, but I guess I should make sure I count laps myself. Who knows, there might have been one half-lap that felt more like one and a half. I kept going as hard as I could and still had a sizable lead the second to last time up the hill. Garry said it was up to 10 seconds at some point.
My speed through the start / finish line was really diminishing by the bell lap. I got caught just after the 12th and final time up the hill and it was all over. I was totally spent and watched what was left of the pack pass me by. I could really do absolutely nothing about it, except possibly puke on each one of them. In retrospect, I felt like the breakaway guy who Phil Liggett always talks about on OLN. "He has put on a good show today folks and it is a shame that he is going to get caught. I really wish he could get the win."
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