Sea Otter Circuit Race

Team: URIV, Christian, Rob, Paul, Aaron, BP
Results: BP (20th), Christian (30) and URIV (35)

The NRC descended upon the Lagua Seca Raceway in the form of gale-force winds, rain and mud. I think Mother Nature must have been off a day with this whole Friday the 13th thing. Or, maybe she was watching "The Day After Tomorrow," got pumped and decided to unleash some fury on Monterey.

The race was supposed to start at 1pm, but the women's race had been stopped due to an "Act of God" rule (aka super Red Bull-hyped Mother Nature rockin' to ATN's Speed Metal soundtrack), but was never re-started. The women could never finish the race, and the promoters decided that the "race didn't count" and they weren't ponying up the prize money. It's a shame that the promoters made this decision and I am pissed that the women had to endure the washing machine of nature for no dough.

So, we got to the line promptly at 2pm only to find out that our race was also going to be postponed for another 30 minutes. Quick, find shelter. I huddled in a minivan with a bunch of guys from the Orbea Team from up North. Great bunch of guys, but I feel for them. One doood had wicked gas up in that van!

So, needless to say, the 30-minute delay really iced the 'ole adrenaline. I was hoping that they would cancel the sucker and do it on Sunday.

The race started with a super wicked AJM attack on the backside of the course. Daniel Ramsey from Successful Living joined him and the two were off on a Point Sojourn for KOMs and Sprints. Back in the relative safety of the pack, the poker faces were honed intently on one man, Andy Bajadali. Riding super well after his win in Redlands, he was the Big Favorite for the win. HN and Sierra were all waiting for the move.

The first half of the race featured a number of surges up and over the hill and into the wind and on the back stretch. Each time I got to the bottom of the hill I thought that one of the Big Teams would shred us into the gutter in the headwind. But, it never really happened. They always seemed to sit up.

We missed a couple of moves and Christian and URIV 4 worked amazingly well to bring me back into position. These guys also hung on in this shred fest to finish the race, a truly great feat considering less than 40 of the 100+ starters finished.

With about 12 laps to go, the first selection from the group was made at the top of the climb. I was too far back on the climb and suffered when the green gumby that is pack-elastic snapped in half and left only windy daylight between me at the next lycra-ass. Need to work on this next time 'round.

I was caught in the third group on the road. My nice little sextet featured a HN, two of the Orbea guys, this guy from Vitamin Cottage (who's super strong; I remembered him from Hood) and one other guy. We never really worked well together and instead thought it better to attack for the last 8 laps. I got gapped a few times but I kept thinking how much it would suck to ride this alone in the wind so I hung on with the bunch.

At 1 to go I felt a lot better and decided to just follow the surges up the hill and sprint at the end. I managed 20th position, last in the money and still good for some NRC puntos.

Daniel Ramsey got caught and then went again with 4 to go and stayed away SOLO for the win. Man, great job doood! That was truly sick. He raced super aggressive and it paid off in what should have been a suicide move.

It was great hanging with ATN before the race and seeing him out there supporting the Team. Also, huge ups to AJ and Suk for feeding us and lending me his warm clothes during the race delay. Of course, huge love to Catherine and Mikey D. Dogg for their support and cheers during a not-so-spectator friendly event.