Apr. 17 , 2010
A RESPECTABLE FINISH FOR TEAM ZENN AT THE SEA OTTER CLASSIC ROAD RACE
Zenn Racing Team: Tom Skiles
Monterey, CA - It was a fairly small field and scarcely more than 30 guys lined up for the 69 mile leg burner of a road race. Tom Skiles was the sole representative of the Zenn Racing Team.
Shortly after the race began, Kevin Metcalf rolled off the front of the field and showed that he was a worthy carrot for the field to chase. The Jocelyn's team chased, but the hills eventually took their toll and the team eventually faded anonymously into the field.
There was one big climb and lots of smaller hills sprinkled in, which hampered recovery. On the fourth lap up the big climb, a chase group separated itself from the field, but the pace slowed at the top and the race came back together.
On the following lap up the climb, the pace hastened once again. As on the previous go up the climb, a group of 8 riders separated themselves from the field. Not wanting the race to come back together after the summit, Skiles put it in the big ring and forced the tempo. After getting some cooperation from Paul Dyrwall, a Morgan Stanley rider, he told Skiles, "We've got a big gap so lets keep it rolling." In deed, instead of consolidating the chase of eight guys, Skiles and Dyrwall had actually pulled away from the six other riders, which included two from Team Specialized.
Dyrwall and Skiles survived one lap in no man’s land before being caught by a motivated group of six in the chase. The Specialized guys in the chase group had no interest in letting them go after Metcalf.
About five miles after being caught by the chase group, Skiles felt his left hamstring begin to cramp, which foreshadowed the beginning of the end. At the top of a roller, his hamstring completed locked up and his 7 companions separated themselves from Skiles. However, Skiles quickly recovered from his cramp and then slumped into a time trial position, keeping the gap under 20-seconds. Eventually, the seven riders slowed and Skiles caught back on, but it didn't last long.
On the final ascent of the climb, Skiles was tailed-off for the final time, finishing 3 minutes in the rears of the field, placing a respectable but somewhat disappointing 11th.
