Road Bike Racing - Manhattan Beach GP - anyone familiar with this course?

The climb going into turns 1 & 2, is it too steep or long to power over in the bing ring? Let me rephrase that - can an average CAT4 rider power through that climb for 40minutes? :D Anyone know the percentage of that climb?

I'm thinkin of doing this one but I don't want to make the long drive if I'm just going to get my butt dropped cuz I suck at climbing.

http://www.socalcycling.com/RaceAnn/2006/2006MBGPFlyer.pdf

Depends upon your strengths & weaknesses. I've done that course as both cat-4 and cat-3. Strangely enough, the cat-4 race hurt more. Perhaps because it was my 1st season and I wasn't in as good as shape as my 2nd year. Anyway, no, you can't hammer that climb in the big-ring, the hill is too long and you'll end up losing too much momentum and will wear out your muscles quickly. Save your strength and spin up the hill. On the other hand... if you're built like Hesslich or AHhhhnold, then yes, maybe you can power up that hill for 40minutes... ;)

Bigger issue is the yo-yo accordion effect due to the tight course. If you're farther back than 25-30th place, you're gonna hit that hill at 5-10mph SLOWER than the guys in front. You'll have to accelerate 5-10mph FASTER UPHILL compared to the lead guys just to stay with the pack. Stay up front, the winner of the race will be in the 1st 10 guys down the hill and 1st 5 guys around the last corner. :)

How bad are those turns? They look pretty tight, especially the one on the downhill. But wow, $500 cash over 6 places?? I might have to make the trip up.

Bigger issue is the yo-yo accordion effect due to the tight course. If you're farther back than 25-30th place, you're gonna hit that hill at 5-10mph SLOWER than the guys in front. You'll have to accelerate 5-10mph FASTER UPHILL compared to the lead guys just to stay with the pack. Stay up front, the winner of the race will be in the 1st 10 guys down the hill and 1st 5 guys around the last corner. :)

Yes, but since we're talking about 4's the first 15 guys are going down in a final turn crash when some ass nugget decides to dive underneath like he's Robbie McEwen. :p

I kid! I kid!

Depends upon your strengths & weaknesses. I've done that course as both cat-4 and cat-3. Strangely enough, the cat-4 race hurt more. Perhaps because it was my 1st season and I wasn't in as good as shape as my 2nd year. Anyway, no, you can't hammer that climb in the big-ring, the hill is too long and you'll end up losing too much momentum and will wear out your muscles quickly. Save your strength and spin up the hill. On the other hand... if you're built like Hesslich or AHhhhnold, then yes, maybe you can power up that hill for 40minutes... ;)

Bigger issue is the yo-yo accordion effect due to the tight course. If you're farther back than 25-30th place, you're gonna hit that hill at 5-10mph SLOWER than the guys in front. You'll have to accelerate 5-10mph FASTER UPHILL compared to the lead guys just to stay with the pack. Stay up front, the winner of the race will be in the 1st 10 guys down the hill and 1st 5 guys around the last corner. :)

Hmmm, I dunno then. My weakness is when the hill gets too steep and I have to switch to the small ring. I'd much rather sit n spin in the 53/24 or shift down one and power through. Seems whenever I have to small ring it on a hill I get dropped.

Do a double-shift then. Go from 53x21t to 38x15t for roughly the same gearing. Then shift down one gear 1/3rd of the way up, then shift down another gear 2/3rd of the way up. The turn at the top is actually the slowest part of the course and you definitely don't want to get caught on the inside and lose all your momentum. The hammering part is actually on the last 50-ft of the hill and around the section at the top. Then you can relax on the downhilll and draft. You want to preserve as much of your speed and momentum as possible from the downhill and across the finishing stretch back to the uphill section. Stay near the front, it'll save a lot of your strength if you can hit the hill in the top 5-15 places consistently and carry all your speed as far up as possible. :)

The climb going into turns 1 & 2, is it too steep or long to power over in the bing ring? Let me rephrase that - can an average CAT4 rider power through that climb for 40minutes? :D Anyone know the percentage of that climb?
Hello TCR,

Been riding the race most years since 1979. Have ridden Cat 3, Cat 1-3, and Masters (various ages). Have gotten dropped periodically over the years but have also finished a Cat 1-3 100Km race on the original course (with railroad tracks) in the main field.

I'll tell you that if you can't power over the hill in the big ring for 40 minutes then you WILL get dropped. I know from experience. :(

On the other hand, you are generally carrying so much speed down the front straight that you have a lot of momentum going into the hill. The larger concerns are accelerating out of turns 1-2 and 3-4 and crashing. If you are anywhere out of the top 20 you will be slowing down to about 20 MPH and then accelerating to 30+ MPH (even in the 4s). There are also the inevitable crashes. Many people in many categories see this as their biggest race of the year and ride like there is a pro contract on the other side of the finish line.

The last 3 years I have seen crashes in the final turn in either the 3s or the 4s (many times the lead riders as Dial_tone notes) and some of those crashes have been very ugly. Last year I was well placed in the Masters 40+ (top 25 or so) on the back straight headed for the bell when some #$@&%^ crashed a few riders in front of me (YES on the STRAIGHT). I had the bike locked up and sideways watching people crashing around me. I came to a stop with my front tire against someone laying on the ground. By the time I got going again I was dropped and rode the last lap just to say that I finished.

I don't know why I keep going back there but I do. :p BTW, I have never been a good field sprinter unless the finish was uphill and I am not a power climber.

Cleave, you make it sound so fun! :D


Is turn 3/4 really tight? Going into a tight hairpin turn with a bunch of azzhat cat4's doesn't sound too good. Also, can you guesstimate how many laps there'd be in 40 minutes?

Is turn 3/4 really tight? Going into a tight hairpin turn with a bunch of azzhat cat4's doesn't sound too good. Also, can you guesstimate how many laps there'd be in 40 minutes?

Turn 3/4 is definitely tighter than 1/2. The 3/4 coomplex has a narrow entrance and a wide exit but because it has a late apex if you are carrying any speed you will use most of the road at the exit. Ther is no sure fire way to miss crashes on this course but staying to the inside of the corners gives you some better odds than being on the outside. Also, though it is definitely harder, if you can't make it to the front (and believe me, everyone wants to be at the front so it's tough to get there) then being at the back is safer but also makes you more likely to get dropped.

Yeah, none of this sounds like fun but who said big time amateur bike racing was fun? ;)

don't forget, the finish is really close to the final turn, so everyone tries to carry as much speed and position as possible 'cuz it's at most 200 meters to the line. there's a big sprint to get to the front before the turn as well as the final sprint. pure chaos

*shudders* Turn 3/4 is a hairy one indeed. When I was there 10 years ago, I saw a different category coming around it and a big pile up ensued. So many people went down the riders in the back were jumping the curb and riding around it on the sidewalk! You definitely want to be closer to the front of the pack for this one, especially towards the end when things heat up. As for the hills, you should be fine in the big ring.

Hmm, too far to drive just to go down in some pile up. I think I'll skip this one.