April 9th, 2003-
Redwood City hosts the first stage of the Sea Otter Classic
Above is a map of the race course,
which you can enlarge to a printable version by clicking on it (or
you can pick up a free copy at either of our locations). To print it
out cleanly, click on it to bring up the larger version, then select
the appropriate settings to "fit to page." Eventually I'll
figure out how to do it as a .pdf file, which automatically prints
cleanly.
Billy Innes, captain of the LeMond Fitness team, and off-season
employee of Chain Reaction. One of those guys it's
embarrassing to have around because, no matter what your own cycling
accomplishments are, you'll never touch this guy. One of those
guys with skin stretched tightly around his leg muscles.
Lead woman on the first lap of their
race, a hotly-contested four lap event that was everything the men's
event wasn't. This photo is on Hillcrest, near the top of the
course, with the Port of Redwood City in the background.
The chase group following shortly
afterward.
First lap of the men's race,
proceeding at a casual-enough pace that a spectator could pick out
conversations among the riders. All four laps proceeded as a
promenade, interrupted by a rider protest that stopped the "race"
about halfway through. The riders felt the course to be far
too dangerous, due to the number of vehicles parked on the course,
as well as drivers that managed to squeeze in between the police
escorts.
The end of the men's race, which was
something of a contrived affair. Instead of a full-field
sprint, the 13 teams decided to send one member of each squad to
contest the sprint, with the rest of the field (about 150) coming in
a couple minutes later. The idea was that this would create a
safer finish than having them all funneling through at once.
WHAT'S PROPER
ETIQUETTE WHEN THE PELOTON
STOPS BY YOUR HOUSE?
Hi Mike,
Talk about a bike
race in your backyard, when the peloton stopped today to discuss the
race safety, it happened literally at my front door! Our water
supply and bushes (the riders asked very politely before commencing)
were liberally supplied and we became an unplanned rest pit stop for
the peloton. I also had a chance to have an extended conversation
with Floyd Landis who is quite nice.
See you at the
shop, Michael Aronson
As you can see (and read), Michael Aronson had front-row seats to
the goings-on of the rider protest at the Sea Otter Classic!
This all took place directly in front of his house.
Many thanks to him for sharing his story and photos.
That's USPS rider Floyd Landis, giving tips to Ethan, TDF Tete de
Course for 2025! Floyd's currently recovering from a
broken hip suffered in a crash earlier this season. He says
he's still on track to ride the Tour de France though (and help
Lance to victory #5!).
Running the Sea Otter is a massive undertaking; it amazes me that it
can be
pulled off at all. Rick Sutton most certainly has given back more
to the
sport than he's taken. Unfortunately, we're not a sport that's
rolling in
$$$, so events like this are highly dependent upon the efforts of
many
hard-working volunteers, people who most likely haven't had the
opportunity
to work together except at the Sea Otter.
What I'm not sure of is if I was part of the solution or the
problem. I did
what I could to encourage people to get out and watch the event (in
Redwood
City), and publicized the need for volunteers. We even closed down
the shop
during the event, so our staff could watch the race (and encourage
our
customers to do so as well). But perhaps I overlooked opportunities
to get
more involved and try and help with the actual event? Maybe those
of us who
have identified all manner of issues that kept the race from being
as safe
as it could have been ought to step up to the plate and say hey, if
we're
going to try and bring big-time bike racing to Redwood City, it's
going to
need our help.
Rather than throwing around all manner of opinions about what went
wrong, I
think Redwood City needs help from people willing to identify those
things
*and* offer to help implement changes to make next year's race a
grand event
indeed. For example, I think one of the main problems for safety
was the
fact that local residents, despite having been served three separate
times
with notices saying what was going to happen, still didn't seem to
be aware
of the magnitude of what was involved. Why? Because they saw
nothing on
the roads ahead of time to indicate anything was going happen on
April 9th.
My idea? Get traffic barricades (those saw-horse type of things
that you
usually see with blinking lights on top of them) all over the
course, with
notices that say "April 9th, road subject to closure for bicycle
race from
9am-2pm, suggest alternate route." In some areas, it could notify
residents
that there would be no on-street parking on that day. I live just
off the
course, so it's pretty easy for me to identify where this might need
to be
done.
The trick is figuring out how to become part of the solution. How
do I
offer something constructive, and help to implement it if possible,
and keep
everything in a really positive light? But I'm going to try. The
Sea Otter
has the potential to blossom into something that's recognized not
just by
those of us already into cycling, but the public as large. This is
an
opportunity not to be wasted. --Mike-- 04/13/03
Above
is the output from my Ciclomaster HAC4 bike computer when I rode the
course on 1/26/03. That image also can be clicked on for a
larger version.
What's the course like? Depends upon how you want to ride it.
The first time I took it easy and shot lots of photos; the second
time I wanted to get an accurate readout of the
course from my computer, so I rode it quite a bit harder. Got
a totally different feel for how the course is! At a moderate
speed, you don't mind the climbs very much, as none of the steep
parts are all that long. But at speed, when you hit each climb
already a bit winded, it's a whole different experience. I did
one lap in about 35 minutes, including stopping for all stop signs
and lights (the most annoying of which are the two stop signs on Fernside; there's actually only one light, at Jefferson & Alameda).
March 29, 2003 The Sea Otter Classic ran a
clinic in Redwood City for 30 lucky local cyclists, featuring Dr.
Massimo Testa, legendary Davis, CA Sports Physiology guru, as well
as Clark Natwick, National Cycling Coach (and many times National
Cyclocross Champion), Linda Jackson, literally a World Champion
cyclist, and, of course, Rick Sutton, Redwood City's homegrown
cycling promoter extraordinaire and father of the Sea Otter Classic.
The backdrop was Redwood City's rejuvenated Fox Theater, the center
of many cultural events that have finally found their way to
downtown Redwood City.
--Mike--
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