A Note From
Mark Caldwell:
'86, '87 Cat's Hill
LGBRC,
I won your race in 1986 as a senior. I have since
won the masters races a number of times. In
1989 I won the other great one-day classic
of Northern California, Nevada City. Both races
are brutal. The community of Los Gatos and
the Cat's Hill organizers have a right to take
pride in the race and its enduring quality.
Any cyclist who has raced or recreationally
ridden this course knows that to win is a feather
in the cap of even the great champions of our
sport. In 1987 my protégé Stefan
Speilman of the 7-11 team competed. He managed
to get a wheel caught in the infamous slot
between turns 2 and 3 just before the climb.
He crashed hard and took down his Olympian
teammate Jeff Bradley who spoke to Stefan after
as if he had done it on purpose. We can all
laugh about it now after 15 years. To say the
course is technical is an understatement. It
is difficult to count how many times I've seen
someone's race ruined by dropping their chain
on the unforgiving "Cat's Hill."
Cheers,
Mark Caldwell
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