April 14, 2007 — Daniel Ramsey (Team Successful Living) scored the victory in the men’s Pro Elite NRC Circuit road race on Saturday at the 2007 Sea Otter Classic serving notice that Team Successful Living is another team to be reckoned with in the men’s peloton.

For those who could stand the dodgy weather, it was a day filled with shock and awe for the men’s and women’s Pro Elite NRC Circuit road race . Appropriately, Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rains’ Gonna Fall” played on 91.7fm (Sea Otter radio) right after announcing that the Women’s Pro Elite NRC circuit race was cut short and cancelled as 48kph+ winds and a driving rain created instant mud streams crossing the slick course. As one journalist claimed, “this is worse than a race I was at in Puerto Rico, and that was practically a hurricane”.

The weather sliced through the women’s event earlier in the day eventually forcing it to be scratched, and caused the men’s race to be delayed and hour and a half as officials waited for things to calm and for the course to dry out. When it did, the field never recovered from Ramsey’s gutsy one man show””not even Ramsey himself expected a victory. “I have to say my teammates dug as deeply as I did for this race, but I didn’t start here thinking I would be going for a victory”¦I just dug deeper and it happened.”

Just how deep did this 28-year-old from Team Successful go? Ramsey won the KOM, Sprint and GC jerseys as the announcer repeatedly quipped at his “˜Herculean’ performance. For most of the race it was a two-man breakaway with Ramsey and local bay area rider, Andy Jacques Mayne of California Giant/Specialized (practically lapped by Ramsey later in the race).

With strong headwinds aiding their attack which lasted for over 20 of the 31 laps around the notorious corkscrew course at Laguna Seca Raceway, it looked like the chasing peloton had plenty of time to let the duo tire out. Yet Ramsey never faltered gaining time every lap until he was reeled in for a few laps before his solo attack paid off gaining over two minutes on the field.

Equally impressive was Ramsey’s team who had four riders in the main group (all five placing in the top ten) controlling the pre-race picks like Health Net p/b Maxxis and Jelly Belly. Most bets were on Jelly Belly’s duo of Alex Candelario or the dominant favorite, Andrew Bajadali, to take the reins and reel in the surging Ramsey, who never looked back as each 3.35km-lap ticked closer to victory.

Both Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada and Health Net p/b Maxxis did their best to regroup and control the field, but things just got uglier as the field splintered into vague strategies gaining nothing but riders fanning away from one another just like the crowds’ waterproof ponchos flailing in the wind.

Immediately after the race while Ramsey was pedaling away for controls, we heard him comment, “I didn’t have a radio on because it was too cold, so I didn’t know how much time I had exactly, so I just kept going.” Just then a few Health Net p/b Maxxis riders congratulated Ramsey and he happily reciprocated with, “you guys rocked the race”.

That’s a phrase the crowd undoubtedly feels about the bravest solo performance of the entire Sea Otter Classic so far.

Women’s Race

The Women’s Pro Elite NRC Circuit race was scratched after heavy winds and rain continued for over an hour causing mud streams to invade various parts of the course. The decision not to count the results and scratch the race was also due in part to miscommunication between race officials and the riders due to equipment malfunctions caused by the weather conditions.

Results Men Pro 1/2 (brief)

1. Daniel Ramsey (Team Successful Living) 02:57:14
2. Brian Jensen (HRRC/Trek Stores) 02:59:20
3. Frank Pipp (Health Net p/b Maxxis) 02:59:20
4. Christian Valenzuela (Team Successful Living)
5. Aaron Tuckerman (Team Rubicon)
6. Michael Grabinger (Team Successful Living)
7. Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly)
8. Curtis Gunn (Team Successful Living)
9. Andrew Bajadali (Jelly Belly)
10. Daniel Harm (Team Rubicon)