Fw: [SCCC] Fwd: Copperopolis race report?

[stan stewart]

You're gettin' FAST! Great job, Mark B!!!!!
Stan

-----Forwarded Message-----
>From: Wayne Smith <donot...@email.teamsnap.com>
>Sent: Apr 25, 2013 3:34 PM
>To: sbst...@earthlink.net
>Subject: [SCCC] Fwd: Copperopolis race report?
>
>FYI. I really enjoyed reading these reports! Spidey looks good on the
>podium. Congrats on a well-deserved upgrade!
>--Wayne
>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>From: Mark Beckstead <j...@midpenperio.com>
>Date: Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 12:44 PM
>Subject: Re: Copperopolis race report?
>To: Wayne Smith <wesm...@gmail.com>
>
>
>Okay,
>Here's a combined race report for Copperopolis and Sea Otter. The
>short of it is that I won Copperopolis in the masters Cat 5 45+ group.
> I also won the Circuit Race at Sea Otter in the M Cat 5 35+/45+
>group. I came in 2nd in the RR at Sea Otter and I lost to the guy
>that I beat at Copperopolis. I recently got a category upgrade to Cat
>4.
>
>Copperopolis:
>Great weather and a favorite venue for me. Pulled into the parking
>area right by Liz and Wayne. The M Cat 5 45+ group had about 15
>riders. The group started pretty fast right from the whistle with a
>few riders pushing it on the front until we hit the first hill. The
>hill is long with some fairly steep sections. Half the group was gone
>off the back at the top of the first hill. The rest stayed together
>for the first lap. On the second lap, the pace picked up again and we
>hit the big hill hard. There were two of us with a 20 second gap on 4
>others at the top of the hill. The two of us decided to work together
>and maintain the break. It worked. The group behind us fragmented
>and it was a two-man race to the end. The other guy sucked my wheel a
>lot. I made him pass me a few time but his pulls were short. It was
>worth working with him though cuz I didn't want to be out there in a
>headwind on my own. We raced down the rough down hill section to the
>short uphill before the finish. He came around me with 200m to go and
>there was no way I was going to let him win after he was on my wheel
>most of the way. I gave it everything I had and won by 3 bike
>lengths.
>
>Sea Otter RR:
>Left here on Fri at noon to get down to Sea Otter for a 3:30 start to
>the M Cat 5 45+ road race. Parking is out in a field a long way from
>the start. Check in and negotiating the bridges and crowds to get to
>the start takes 45 min. The start is at the race track but the finish
>is off site. I warmed up by riding over to the finish to see the hill
>and I realized that the race was going to be won or lost on the final
>hill. It's long, almost 2 miles and steep at the end.
>From the start there is a long neutral protion so the warm up is not
>critical. We did 5 laps on a hilly and windy course. There were a
>few attempted breaks but it was easy to regroup on the downhills so no
>one got away. At the end of the final lap the group is deverted back
>to the long uphill finish. The paced picked up immediately at the
>base of the hill, We got passed by a couple of guys from another
>group and a few in our group chased not recognizing that they were not
>ours. The officials on motorcycles straightened them out and their
>wasted energy cost them at the end. There were four of us left at the
>1K marker. The 200m marker couldn't come soon enough, I was tapped.
>I attempted to stand and accelerate to catch the one guy in front of
>me. There was nothing left, I maintained my position and crossed the
>line in second place. The guy that finished first is the same 141
>pounder that I beat at Copperopolis. The RR course was perfect for
>him.
>
>Sea Otter Circuit Race:
>The Circuit Race start was at 8:00AM which was an early call after
>finishing the RR the night before at 6:30PM.
>It was a warm sunny morning and after a short warm-up I was ready to
>get on with it. The race is held on the 2.2mi Laguna Seca Race Track.
> There were about 25-30 guys in the M Cat 5 35+/45+ group. The course
>starts on the flat but after the first turn it ramps up to a
>significant hill, then it twists down a steep descent called the
>"corkscrew". The rest is rolling hills and few sharp turns. The race
>is designed to go for 50 minutes. So they let you race a few laps to
>get an average lap speed, then they post the number of laps left. We
>probably did 8-10 laps. The hill gets old after about 4 laps. On the
>last lap there was a break going up the hill. I went with it even
>though I thought the group would come back together after the downhill
>which it did. With 2 turns left I moved up to 5th position. There
>were 3 guys from the same team on the front. I figured they were
>planning to lead out their guy. As we rounded the last turn the two
>lead guys spread out, almost in a blocking move. I was behind one of
>them and he looked back a couple of times. After the second look
>back, I went. Everything I had, out of the saddle, head down, nothing
>but open pavement between me and the finish line. I expected to see a
>wheel or two show up in my peripheral vision but there was nobody
>there! Solo finish from a field sprint at a big venue. Best feeling
>I have had on a bike!
>
>Attached is a podium shot from Sea Otter
>
>On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 7:02 AM, Wayne Smith <wesm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Mark,
>>
>> Did you write one up? I'd be interested seeing it -- maybe I can post
>> it to SCCC.
>>
>> --Wayne
>
>
>
>
>--
>J. Mark Beckstead, DDS
>Mid-Peninsula Periodontics
>20 First Street
>Los Altos, CA 94022
>O: 650-941-7300
>C: 650-814-8721
>www.midpenperio.com