There are pros at many of the local training rides. Riders from Toyota-United, Rock Racing and Successfulliving.com do the Rose Bowl on occassion. These same guys also do the Bud's ride on Wednesdays and the Montrose ride on Saturdays. Antonio Cruz does El Dorado when he's home along with several ex-pros. This past year Como was mostly ex-pros but it was plenty fast. Tony kept threatening to go to Como but I don't know if he ever made it down. There are plenty of fast 1s and 2s to measure yourself against since the pros aren't always trying to race when they are at a training ride. A lot of times the pros and the other fast guys have been on there bikes 3 or 4 hours by the time they get to the training ride.

I've known guys that have done Como in a cast. No one will care as long as you don't ride like you're going to put someone else in a cast.