Mikes Bikes Cat’s Hill Classic
May 5, 2012
Los Gatos, CA

Now in its fourth decade, the Cat’s Hill Classic has become one of the most prestigious cycling event throughout the nation. Past participants read as a who’s who in the cycling world: Wayne Stetina, Greg Lemond, Eric Heiden, and Davis Phinney just to name a few.

The one mile long criterium on rough pavement has five 90 degree left turns, one 90 degree right turn, and one very steep climb at 23%! This requires a combination of skill, speed, strength, and stamina.

“…The next few laps were pretty fast with Phipps doing 80% of the work. The pack came close a couple of times, but we never slowed down and the gap grew to 20 sec or so. Lap cards kept coming down and with three to go I knew we were going to stick this one. Now its time to think how I am going to win this thing. Simple….just wait till the last lap…. attack the last section of the descent before the last 90 right degree turn and win the race… so this is what I did… I kept my third position in the break, opened a little gap on the descent to make sure I would come up with more speed than the other two riders and hit it… by the time I made the last turn I had 5 meters or so on Walker… from there I just kept on going and never looked back.. took the win by two or three bike lengths…”
Andres Gil
Mens 35+ 1,2,3
1st Place


“This is a must do race for anyone who lives and races in nor-cal. First off, Los Gatos is a very cool and classy place. Second, it’s pretty awesome to be racing through a fancy old neighborhood where homeowners are BBQ’ing and enjoying the race in their front yard. Third, there’s this thing called “Cat’s Hill”…The list goes on.

Have you ever seen a pissed off cat? Well, that image perfectly describes the course. This race takes you up a 23% short climb levels off and descends quickly into a 90% corner. After that, there are cracks that run parallel to the direction of travel which threaten to catch a tire and leave one in similar fashion to a cat attack.

I rode well the whole race just sitting in and holding back. I don’t normally race this way but decided to try something new. I was too far back on the last lap and could not move up on the hill. Unfortunately, someone let a gap open so rather than passing guys I was closing a gap coming to the last corner. I was basically last in the bunch sprint (18th).”
 Nano Christensen
Mens Pro, 1,2
18th Place



Results
Mens Pro, 1/2
Nano Christensen – 18th place
Andres Gil – 13th place

Men’s 35+ 1,2,3
Andres Gil – 1st place
Doug Hall – 18th place

Photo credits:
Paul Doran
Dale H. Lewis
Thomas Preisler