Jim Kuphaldt, Sea Otter 45+

With Steve Wick unable to get off from work Thursday and Friday I inherited the job of Junior Race Director for the weekend and what a job I did. Basically I just pinned numbers and made sure they were drinking and eating. As for the Race Directing part I just offered encouragement and time splits. Steve has taught them well, they don’t need any tactical advise from me. That did not stop me from ribbing Steve about taking his job as Director, since the kids raced so great this weekend.

Since this is a masters race report I will give you a quick rundown on the Juniors. Ballsy ride of the weekend goes to Alex Wick, who launched a flier 4 miles into the race mainly to set Taylor up for the win. He ended up soloing nearly 50 miles to win the Junior 17-18 Road Race by 2+ minutes. Taylor dropped the rest on the last 2 climbs to get second, Chris a very respectable 10^th for a big guy. Speaking of big guy, how about Zack Wick 10^th in the 15-16 Road Race.

Day 2 the Junior Circuit races Zack and Taylor share Gutsy efforts of the day, with Zack finishing 5^th after being dropped by about 20 seconds on the next to last climb and fighting his way back into the group. Taylor winning the 17-18’s after countless attacks finally softened up the field enough for the marked man to escape for a 20 second solo victory.

Two solo breakaway wins and 6 top 10’s, not bad for my first stab at team director aye! I love watching these kids race bikes, poetry in motion. For more info see the DBC Junior Blogspot.

Now to the Masters 45+Cat 5 race. Mechanical problems with my bike forced me to ride Taylor’s new Soloist Carbon. Poor me! Actually, I was quite nervous riding his bike on a track full of Cat 5’s of all ages. After switching peddles and adjusting the seat to fit me, I got a late start on my warm-up. Rolled to the track for my warm up where I heard a poorly pinned number flapping in the wind. Oops, forgot my number. Where was my team director! Oh that’s right I don’t have one. Race back to the car to get my number and have Taylor pin it. Now back to the track with 6 minutes to spare. Do my pre-race efforts on the track behind the line and roll to the start with just enough time to exchange greetings with the 3 other DBC riders in the race, Darin Salk, Tom Clementi, and fellow Yuba City rider Nelson Frink.

Taylor’s instructions were to stay out of the pack with his bike so I went right to the front and stayed first to third wheel the first 2 laps. On the third time up the climb I was doing good tempo on the front when I noticed a small gap forming behind me, so I put in an effort to extend the gap. At the base of the Kicker it looked like I had 50m or so lead on the pack with no chasers and I was mentally preparing myself for a long solo effort. Then a rider came shooting up to me when I was going hard. How the heck did he close that gap so fast, I was just finishing the steep part and still had that dreadfully long finish to the climb and he was already on me. We rolled to the top together. On the descent I tucked tight gapped him a bit, waited for him to get back on and I started hammering again I new I would need his help. Shortly after he came up beside to take his pull and said don’t you think it’s too early to break away? I said “no I’m going for it” and he said “wow OK, here we go” and began his pull. We worked together well sharing pulls equally throughout the race. We shared info about each other during the race and I found he was a long time mountain biker from So Cal and his name was Bud. He seemed to be about the same strength as me as we were going around the course including on the climb, but in the back of my mind I was wondering about that savage move he made to close my initial gap or did I somehow miss him when I looked back.

Well I got my answer the last time up kicker part of the climb he attacked hard and I had no answer. By the time the steep part ended he had 50m on me and it’s only about 150m, wow that was impressive! I managed to keep the gap the same the rest of the way up the climb and hammered as hard as I could on the short flat and the start of the descent until I spun out then got super aero and actually caught him by the second turn without peddling. He looked over his left shoulder and I moved to the right, then he looked over the right and I moved left. I don’t think he saw me because he kept hammering to the sharp left. Then he saw me and let up and I immediately attacked got a few bike lengths but by the time we were starting the short climb he was back on my wheel. Then we shook hands cresting that final climb to congratulate each other on a great race either way. Knowing we had a big lead (2+ minutes) I was determined to stay second wheel until the last 75m and I was thinking it was going to be a soft peddle until 200m. Then a rider from another group passed us on the second to last corner and he jumped to grab that wheel the moto quickly admonished him and he went around and started hammering. He virtually handed me the race by going from so far out with me right on his wheel. I simply came around 50-75m from the line and won easily. I guess that works in mountain biking but not on the road.

Nelson was in the fray of the pack sprint and ended up 8^th , Darin was 19^th ,and Tom was 21^st. Good showing for all the DBC guys.

See you at Wente

Jim Kuphaldt

Nelson Frink, Sea Otter

The Sea Otter was a fantastic bikefest and the racing was the most fun I've ever done. You could ride around and check out the booths and people, with crowds of people milling around like a packed county fair, and miraculously I didn't see any crashes between riders, walkers or running children. As I was standing in front of the BMX jumping course watching the stunts, I could look over at the Laguna Seca Race Track and see the Pro/1 circuit race going on, and coming down the face of the hill was the dual slalom mountain bike downhill race. I did witness some gnarly crashes in the downhill races. The crowd was interesting in itself, with every variety of cycling enthusiast represented. A fair number of scratched and scraped faces and extremities were on display, and one guy was walking around with his broken mountain bike in two pieces held together by the cables and draped over his shoulder. A guy on a unicycle was riding down the stairs in front of me from the bridge over the race track.

I was very impressed with the friendly atmosphere and organization (except for the postponement of the road race from 3:00 to 5:00 PM, which pushed the race into the evening and resulted in some confusion as some racers weren't allowed to do all 5 laps.) I had some chain skipping and shifting problems in the road race, and so I went to the race mechanics on the circuit race course before that race to see if they could help. The mechanic found a broken chain link that would surely have snapped all the way on the steep section of the circuit race, replaced my chain with a SRAM chain, tuned up my shifting to the best it's been since I bought the bike, and then informed me it was all free!

I rolled out in the road race with Tom and Darin from the starting line on the race track where almost all of the road and mountain bike races started from. We headed out onto the eight mile loop for five laps, with a 300 ft vertical climb at the beginning of each loop and a 250 ft climb midway through, with many curves and low rollers mixed in. Of the 60+ racers that started out, the pack gradually got smaller each lap, but nobody could make a breakaway stick. The racing was the type that I love: flying along in the pack at a fast tempo through varied and challenging terrain and not getting dropped!

Midway through the 4th lap, a racer next to me asked if I knew Jason Snovel, and I commented about the great racing last weekend with him at Madera. He said he raced with him also, and I asked his name and he said Russ. Oh, Uncle Russ! The one Jason talked about in his race report! I asked how he was doing from the crash, and he said it was minor and that he appreciated Jason et al blocking until he was able to rejoin the pack.
There were about 20 riders remaining as we left the loop and onto the final 3 mile 600+ ft vertical climb to the finish, and a few guys went off the front like we were standing still. The remaining group fell apart gradually on the climb, and I finished 15th. I saw Tom at the finish and was surprised, as I hadn't seen him after the 2nd lap, and he said he was routed off the loop after 4 laps because of the approaching nightfall. It turned out that the initial results didn't allow for some riders only doing 4 laps, and the final results were a bit messed up despite timing transmitters attached to our ankles.

The Circuit race the next morning was also a complete blast except that it was a very challenging course with a 275 ft vertical climb that reached a 15% grade each lap. The corkscrew downhill reached a 20% grade and was a real thrill in a pack at 40 mph. The downhill banked S-turns were pretty exhilarating as well.

Jim Kuphaldt was driving a fast pace at the front most of the way, and on the third lap he picked up the tempo on the climb. As I saw him gap the next rider back, I thought I should move up onto his wheel, but decided to let him go. One rider attacked and bridged up and went over the top of the climb with him, and I stayed behind and did my best to block for him. Their breakaway caught up with and passed the 35+5 group and finished about 2.5 minutes ahead of us, with Jim winning the sprint. I took 6th in the sprint of the 15 or so in the first chase group for 8th place overall.

Combining the Sea Otter with the other fun things we did in Monterey such as visiting the Aquarium, strolling Cannery Row, watching a 3D IMAX movie, and enjoying Sunday Brunch on the dock at Fisherman's Wharf, and this was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.
Nelson