April 8, Sea Otter Classic Amateur Road Race, Monterey
Race website and results

Race photos: brightroom

Men's Elite 3 Road Race report by Zack Sober, Kovarus/Squadra Ovest

Teammates: Chris L., Dan T., Jan, Dan M., Brian, Murat

Course: Start on the track at Laguna Seca, and roll out Barloy canyon road on a huge downhill watching 100 cyclist string out like a Piano and then do six 10.5-mile laps of mostly rolling terrain with one very steep climb that was probably a little less than a half mile long. After the laps, we turn and go back up the hill and see who can climb like a mountain goat. Not exactly my strength at 170 lbs, but nonetheless I was the co-designated guy along with Dan T.

Lap 1: Slow and more slow. What happened to San Dimas pace? Guys never felt like attacking and the pace was what I thought to be very slow.

Lap 2: See lap 1.

Lap 3: After rolling through the feed zone, there is a hard left turn and then some uphill. I hear the sound of carbon fiber scraping pavement and I cringe. I avoid the melee, but I see Dan T. on the side of the road with his helmet knocked off laying with four or five other guys. Crap. I hope he's OK.

Lap 4: The pace had been pretty slow so I started talking with Chris. I asked if he could maybe bump the pace up on Barloy (the very steep section) a bit and he said he couldn't go much faster up it. The next thing I know I have to scurry to grab the wheel in front of me as Chris Hincape is drilling it at the front again. I had three guys come up to me and ask "WTF is Chris doing up there AGAIN?!" Mad props to Chris again for working his A$$ off. Going through the feed zone I see Dan T. and a huge river of blood running down his leg, but he's yelling at me "good job, hang in there" so I know he's OK.

Lap 5: After Hincape leads us to the flat section before the feed zone I roll up to him to make sure he's not passing out from all the work he constantly does and Brian comes around the right side and is gone. I sit on the front doing 12mph half way through the feed zone until someone came around me. Brian stays away for 2/3 of a lap and that was the first time I saw him all day as he did a great job of blending in. He said he did a couple turns too hot and ended up in the muddy grass ruining his chances of staying away longer. He had good legs today.

Lap 6: Chris pulls as much as he can, but after three laps at the front he's starting to get tired so a Sierra Nevada guy drills it at the front for a long time. With two miles to go before the left hand turn off the course and onto the 2.6 mile finishing climb, two guys are away and a Davis guys takes me up to them. There are now six of us and we start working to try and get an advantage. I take one pull and then we get caught on the downhill. Damn! I wanted that advantage.

Finishing Stretch: I knew the climb was not well suited for my abilities, but at this point I didn't care. It was time to suffer and that's exactly what I did. As we made the left the pace got crazy. I was 5th wheel through the turn but after the swarms and attacks I had to fight to stay top 20. People started dropping like flies and I was not in a good spot. About 3/4 of the way up I was behind a Davis and a Spine guy in a group of about 15 and they completely popped leaving a gap. S#$%%(%*$! I finally get by them and calmly tell myself to get back attached. Seven guys go away and I can't pull them back. I'm so tapped out already there's not much left and we just hit the 1K sign. S#*&! My HR monitor blew up because it couldn't count that high and I look back to see how close the next guy is. Close. I keep going and going and going. As the front group hit 200m with me 75 meters behind them I see a guy throw down an impressive attack and walk away with the win. Two guys in the front seven pop and barely limp home. If I would have stayed on.... As I cross 200m I'm dead, but I keep going. At 100m I can hear some guy on the sideline yelling at a Davis guy "you almost got him." I hear this and go into full on sprint mode. I'm now "sprinting" my 39-25 doing 8mph drooling, noise running, and probably even had stuff coming out of my ears, but I cross the line ahead in eighth about three seconds ahead of the guy behind me. I can hear Phil Legget in my head "here comes Zack Sober carrying his huge carcass up the mountain..."

Is the pain over? I think I see Dan T. but I'm not really conscience so I'm not sure. The Sea Otter guy takes my computer chip and Dan tells me my parents are waiting for me at the bottom. I keep rolling and pass my parents barely able to see them. I somehow make it back the parking lot and wait for Chris and Jan to come help me from falling over. What a great race! Time to lose some more weight so I can keep up with the skinny guys. Place: 8th

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