Hard course. 3 laps. 66 miles, 6,800 ft of climbing total. Lap is:
1) ~22 minute climb with strong head wind and a very steep pitch at the top.
2) a quick decent. not very technical by Santa Cruz mountains
standards. Easy to get dropped here if you loose any contact at the top of the climb though!
3) a ~9 minute climb. No wind or tail wind.
4) Then it's about 9 miles of rolling, false flat decent with a gnarly cross wind at times.
No rest for the weary.
http://app.strava.com/rides/16779175
Strategy for the race was to be very near the front going into each climb to avoid getting caught behind a split and to have some room to slide back, if needed. I did this and it paid off big time.
After the first two laps, a total of five people were off the front. In two or three different groups.
Starting on the first climb of the last lap, a Dolce Vita guy I'd been marking put in a big dig and rolled away from what was left of the field. I went with him and was able to hang for a minute or so. Started to go too deep into the red though and dropped off right before blowing up. Recovered and drifted back to the pack. Then worked with a few guys to try and catch him. Didn't catch him, but we shed most of what was left of the pack in the process.
Was bummed because with him up the road, first six places were no longer up for grabs and I really wanted a damn Velo Promo t-shirt!
Anyway, worked with the remaining guys and by the top of the second climb on the last lap, there were just three of us. We finished together. They both beat me in the sprint and I ended up with 9th out of ~40.
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