This was my first time in Monterey at Sea Otter, hosted at the Laguna Seca raceway. The venue is most famous for its auto racing, but during Sea Otter the track is transformed into an epic bike-only party. 30,000 plus people including racers, spectators and bike industry representatives gather for almost every type of bicycle competition; downhill, cross country, bmx, road and trials. It truly is a sight to behold as you drive from the steep coastal hills of Monterey and crest that final road into the Laguna Seca valley to see thousands of tents, cyclists and banners in this huge natural amphitheater.
The entire Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing team was at the event, including our satellite Midwest member Adam from Chicago. We rented a large house in Carmel Valley (about 10 minutes away from the venue) so everyone could bring their wives and girlfriends, and so we could relax between races with home-cooked meals. The house and teammates alone was worth the trip, as it provided a great bonding experience, eating and living together for 2 days.
Sea Otter would be my final race before my big goal of the year, the Gila stage race in New Mexico at the end of April. So any inkling of form needed to present itself during Sea Otter so I could have some confidence peaking for the Gila. Bottom line, I needed to have really good legs during Sea Otter to signify even better legs at the Gila.
The first race was early Friday morning on the actual Laguna Seca race track. It was a 2.5 mile circuit with 300 feet of climbing per lap followed by the infamous corkscrew to a 50 mph downhill. Rinse and repeat for 90 minutes (or about 15-16 laps). To prepare for this course I have been playing Forza Motorsports 2 on my Xbox 360. It features an exact virtual replica of the Laguna Seca track, and when driven at about 15-20 mph – you can get a good feel for the course. Call me crazy, but it worked. I knew every turn and hill by heart and I hadn't ever seen it in person. With Forza Motorsports in mind, I was able to roll right up to the start line knowing full well what was in store for me.
I lead the race around the first lap so I could get a feel for the speed and lines in the corners. Since this was pristine car racing pavement, you could take every single turn without brakes, even at 50 mph. I've never been able to lean my bike over so far and still stick to the track. The corkscrew turn was really hairy and I knew I would have an advantage over squirrely riders. The Cat 3 fields seem to feature a lot of guys with some decent power on their bikes, but with no idea how to actually handle them. They get nervous and use brakes or just don't understand how to hold their line. Every time we went through the corkscrew I was able to move up directly to the front of the field without pedaling.
I stayed at the front of the pack throughout the entire race. Each time up the big climb we shelled more and more riders until our field was down to about 30 by the final lap. Going up the final climb I punched it as hard as could, but it felt like I was pedaling uphill in quicksand. I lead over the climb into the downhill and held my position in the top 5 all the way to the finish line, sprinting for 3rd/4th place. The reason I say both, is because I am still not sure what place I finally got in the race. The initial results listed me in 3rd, on the podium I stood in 3rd place and I received a 3rd place medal. However as we were walking down from the podium, an official came running up to declare he looked closer at the finishing photo and decided to slide an additional rider into 2nd place. Even though the results had already been officialized, this USCF judge decided to re-officialize them. Those of us in the top 5 didn't really care, so we exchanged medals and moved on. And later that day I saw a results sheet with my name in 4th place, but the online results still list me in 3rd. Whatever.
That night we had our team photo shoot with individual portraits and a bunch of group shots riding out on the open road around Monterey. We must be the most professional looking non-professional team in California. Matching kits, Scott bikes, Addidas shoes, Giro helmets and Oakley glasses. I'm really proud to be a part of all of it. Matching kits, Scott bikes, SRAM parts, Addidas shoes, Giro helmets, Oakley glasses and our bellies full of organic Clif products. I'm really proud to be a part of all of it. And not only do we look good, more importantly all the stuff we have works really well. I had a Scott CR1 last year, and I was amazed at the difference when upgrading to new Addict frame. It's a much racier setup, even stiffer and the geometry has been tweaked for quicker handling. It has taken some time to get used to SRAM shifting, but the quality and performance is there – especially in the RED components. The Oakley Radars are the best optics I've ever looked through, and the hydrophobic coating truly works. They never fog up and never get sweat stains – so clear viewing all day long.
The next day was the road race around the Fort Ord military base near Laguna Seca. It was 70 miles of steep climbs and false flats. It was a 7 lap course with a finish line that ended at the top of a 2 mile climb. My legs definitely felt tired from the circuit race, but I was still finding myself riding at the front of the race the entire time. Each lap had one longer extended climb that seemed to feel easier and easier every time we went up it. I had two teammates in the race, Nate and Glenn. Glenn was saving his legs for the single speed cross country race the next day, and didn't plan on finishing the race. So we formulated a plan to use Glenn to make the race hard for our competitors and easy for us. He attacked right from the start line and stayed out in front for the next 90 minutes. The pack would work to bring him back and then he would attack again. Meanwhile Nate and I were able to sit-in and relax while the field wore down their legs on catching Glenn. At the 2 hour mark, as we discussed, Glenn was done and turned in for the day. But his efforts truly made a huge impact on the final outcome of the race.
One thing to note in this race is that we all had timing chips on our ankles to help the judges with scoring. I've never worn a timing chip before. On each lap following the feed zone, there was a large metal device on the road that would beep when a timing chip passed by to count your laps. There is a scene in the movie Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger where he is trying to break out of a futuristic prison. However everyone at the prison has a tracking collar around their necks. In the movie, if you cross the prison boundaries the collar will start to beep and then explode and blow your head off. Each time we passed through the lap counter and it started beeping, I kept expecting the collar around my ankle chip to explode.
The pack whittled down to about 30 riders on the final run into the finish. It was a short 2 mile uphill climb into a blustering 20 mph headwind. As soon as we made the final turn uphill, I knew my legs were done. At around the 1 kilometer to go sign, I lost all power, locked up and crawled up to the finish line at 5 mph for 32th place. I felt great all day yet me legs completely gave out with less than a mile to go. It was a disappointing end to a great race, and hopefully I can go back and analyze my race data to see what I did wrong or where I could have conserved more to finish with stronger legs.
Now all that's left to do is hang out, recover and trust in my training to deliver perfect legs for the Gila.
Here are the rest of the hundreds of photos from Sea Otter. Matt did an awesome job of documenting the event as he was on the injured list and Paul is responsible for all the pro photos and team shots.
Article was last edited on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 @ 3:27 PM
