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Cromwell, Grabinger take windy Sea Otter NRC crowns
Powerful gusting winds didn’t sway 19-year-old Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home) or Michael Grabinger (Successful Living), who took NRC victories on the Laguna Seca Raceway Saturday at the Sea Otter Classic.
The men’s and women’s events played out very differently. Cromwell rode solo off the front of a break for the final few laps. Grabinger, however, made it into an unusual four-man breakaway with two teammates and David Clinger (Rock Racing). The men lapped the field — twice — before Successful Living lined up a leadout in the stiff crosswind.
Cromwell crushes
Cromwell and her Colavita teammate Dotsie Bausch, who won the previous day’s non-NRC road race, made their way into a mid-race move with Laura Van Gilder, Catherine Cheatley and Stacy Marple (all Cheerwine), Rachel Heal (Tibco), Shelly Olds (Proman Women’s Racing) and a few others.
“It was the perfect break,” Cromwell said. “We had two Colavita riders, me and Dotsie. And Tina [Pic] was back in the pack. Laura Van Gilder was the biggest threat.”
The Australian went solo almost accidentally, when she realized Van Gilder was in trouble on the circuit’s stiff climb.
“When I found out that Laura was off the back I just drove that climb,” Cromwell said. “I looked back and saw that I had a gap. And I just had to keep time trialing until the end.”
It was no easy task in the 30mph gusts.
“It was unbelievably windy,” Cromwell said. “I had to fight the whole way.”
Olds, who took the bunch sprint for second, said there wasn’t a concerted chase when Cromwell went clear.
“A group had gone just before, and we had all gone pretty deep to bring it back,” Olds said. “And then she was able to ride away. Nobody really wanted to get the chase together. There wasn’t enough coordination. But that allowed me to sit in and wait for the sprint.”
Three on one
With the nation’s biggest teams in Georgia, the Sea Otter NRC drew a mix of domestic pro teams and regional squads. Some outfits, like Rock Racing and Health Net-Maxxis, fielded teams for Sea Otter and Tour de Georgia.
Sea Otter’s Laguna circuit is often a race of attrition — riders tackle the 300-foot climb 31 times. After a number of small moves and aggressions were neutralized, Successful Living went on the successful attack. First Brian Jensen went clear alone. Then Brad White bridged up to join him. Clinger — whose tattooed face appeared in a full-page photo in the local paper that morning — leapt out of the field to move across. Grabinger jumped on his wheel, and soon there were four.
A seven-man chase group looked like it was gaining ground, but eventually blew apart in the wind. Seemingly every time over the climb, riders would tail off, and the combination of the 40-mph descent and the 30-mph winds meant they weren’t coming back. Soon, there were three groups: the four-man break, a chase of about 30 riders, and the tattered remains of the field, minutes back.
As the laps wound down the break had no need to work. A series of attacks and counters seemed the obvious move for Successful Living. Not a single attack came.
“Our team was pretty confident that we’d be able to pull off a lead-out in the wind,” Grabinger said. “We weren’t too motivated to attack there at the end. With those crosswinds it’s pretty easy to keep one of the riders protected for the sprint. That’s what we did.”
Clinger said that the four had agreed to ride it to the finish.
“I told them I wasn’t going to attack if they kept it tame,” said Clinger, who took second. “I was outnumbered so I just told them, hey, let’s bring it to the line and we’ll sprint it out. I don’t like doing that, but they were so strong, there was no other option. It was either attack them with two or three to go, and maybe get dropped, and they take first, second and third. They played it safe. They definitely won the race, and they deserved it.”
