2009 Sea Otter Classic

I've known about the Sea Otter Classic for years. It's a multi-disipline cycling event held in Monterey, California at the Laguna Seca Raceway. Since Molly has been racing mountain bike for a couple years we decided to make this our spring biking trip. With a week of riding we decided to drive and not fly so we could take everything we needed. We headed out the Wednesday before the event and did 11 hours on the road and stayed in Red Bluff, CA. We did this so the next day would only be 5 hours of driving and we could arrive early enough to get a pre-ride in since our race was on Friday. When we got to the event we were directed to a paved lot right next to the track. From there we were blown away by the size of the event. Not only were there thousands of cars but looking around the raceway infield we saw a giant event with hundreds of tents and thousands of people. Up on one hill we could see the downhill start tent. On another we could see the dual slalom course. On the raceway the roadies were going round the track in a race. We walked into the registration tent and found a very organized setup that got us our numbers and timing chips expeditiously. We went back to the car and started getting ready for our pre-ride when we noticed a problem with Molly's bike. The bottom bracket was siezed! Luckily I had brought another one and after a some instructional help I was able to get it swapped out pretty quickly and we were off for the loop with a couple of other guys who were parked next to us. We got a bit lost finding the start of the loop but one we got going...oh my. The course starts with a couple climbs on a fire road and then a super fast descent on a wide clay and rock fire road. It is criss-crossed with huge water cut ruts and is very rough due to them. In fact my water bottle bounced out. From there we do some other tough climbs and then cut into the first singletrack. It's fun but every once in a while you come across some deep sand that tosses you around. Finally we hit some more climbs, some super steep and then we hit the first sand shoot. It's a couple hundred yards long and the sand is DEEP all the way down. I struggle to figure out how to ride it but I do stay upright but I don't go as fast as I'd like. The course continues to be hard but fun and we eventually hit a fire road with a series of climbs but the wind is also in our face at 40mph so I make sure not to blow myself up and just take it easy. The pre-ride takes me 2:21. We get changed and then head out to get fueled up.

We get to sleep in on Friday since our race isn't until 1:30. We get a good breakfast and prep our bikes. I do absolutely ZERO warm up since the temp is about 75 with bright sun that makes it seem much warmer. It's my first ride with just shorts and short sleeves and no baselayer in a long time. I get to the line early and wait for the front line to fill up. I then look at the front row and position myself behind who I think is the strongest rider in the group. I do this since our race actually starts on the Laguna Seca Raceway which is buff smooth asphault that takes us UP the corkscrew. With the wind and speed that I know we'll have at the start I want to sit in and get a nice pull. Nerves kick in and I've got to pee but I'm not leaving my spot and hope for reabsorbtion with the heat. We're at 30 seconds to start and I wish everyone a good and safe race and then the whistle goes and we're off. The start is fast and a few people really jump hard and I grab their wheel. I see the guy I lined up behind jump to another wheel and I follow. I'm locked onto his wheel and he's tactically working well as each wheel we sit on eventually blows up and we've already gotten down to a smaller group off the front. But I've not had to pull at all. Perfect! On the road climb the guy in front of me stands and his gears slip and I bump his rear wheel with my front. Luckily it was a dead center hit and I don't go down and I shoot around him and grab the next wheel. We now jump off the paved road and I'm sitting 5th. We head up the first climb and I'm now 3rd. The big descent from the first day is now familiar and I hit it with no brakes but I'm side by side with 2nd. but at the bottom we climb again and I get ahead of 2nd and hold that place myself. The guy in first...is the guy I lined up behind at the start of the race. I was right, he is fast. Let's hope he blows. I finish the climb and hit the first singletrack and I'm already passing races from the earlier age groups and I'm yelling "old guy in 2nd place on your left" over and over as I try to stay with 1st place, a guy on a Stevens mountain bike in a full Steven's kit. I keep going from 6" off his wheel to being 50 yards behind. It all depends on how we pass other racers. We finally get to the first big sand descent and there are riders everywhere going slow and falling down. I pedal like a mad man and safely surf around these guys but the Steven's dude is gone. I chase hard and eventually catch him again on the next climb. But now we are in some steep and narrow stuff and it's harder to pass when a couple of guys mess up and I'm caught doing a cyclocross dismount and run around them. But now I can't see Steven's. Dang...off to chase again. We are finally to the long fireroad but he's way off the front and he still looks strong and as I look he seems to be pulling away. I have no idea where 3rd place is so I'm going as hard as I can. I'm on the verge of a cramp but hold it off and power into the finish, dragging my leg over the sensor to make sure it gets my time. There at the finish is Steven's and I tell him how hard he made me ride and how fast he was and he responds with good english but a distinctive German accent. He's cramping now and I give him some of my food and salt tablets and he tells me how hard I made him ride. We chat for quite a while and I find out he used to be a pro racer in Europe 10 years ago. I'm feeling better about getting dropped on the last section hearing that. He ended up beating me by 1:23 but it isn't till later that I find out I was 5 minutes ahead of 3rd place. If I'd only known I could have freewheeled it back in and not killed myself. But I'm super happy to have made the podium at such a huge race. The race ended up being just a bit over 20 miles with 2600 ft of climbing.

Molly's race started about 40 minutes after mine and they were doing a 13 mile loop so I was hoping that I'd see her on course as the two courses merge on the long fire road but I don't. But I also don't pass ANY women so I have to assume they are either done or behind....duh. I hang out and after about 20 minutes I see Molly coming in hard to the finish. I run over and she tells me that she was pretty sure we had gotten 3rd. Awesome! We gather our bike and head down to the wall of shame and wait for the results to get posted. My results come up quickly and it confirms my second place finish, but it takes a long time for Molly's to come. Yep, 3rd place! But then they come and take down her results and announce there is a protest. Uh oh. What's going on. No one tells us what the protest is about. We eventually find out that when the ladies signed up for the event, there was a 40-49 age category but at the start of the race they had split the category in two 40-44 and 45-49 and one of the 40-44 women lined up with the 45-49 group and as such got a 5 minute delayed start. The good news is that since we were wearing timing chips they were able to use her time and place her correctly and the results were finalized and Molly held her place in 3rd. We each got our turn on the Podium which was awesome! Time to get changed and get some food and drink!

So on Saturday Molly and I went on the mountain bike "tour" I had signed us up for. It turned out to be the same course we just raced. At least Molly will get a chance to see the "upper" section I raced on. Our legs are tired and we do this at a very leasurely pace and get a chance to talk to one of the organizers, Justin, from Mountain Bike Magazine. He's cool and we enjoy doing our 3rd loop as it is a great course and the weather is even warmer in the 80s. After the ride we run into Cosmic and Rox and setup a dinner. We call Dan and Kari to join us. Now we head up to the short track and watch the pro men race. Wow, what a tough short track. Christoph Sauser flats out but his teammate wins the race! I get to meet Alison Dunlap and take a cute picture of her. He is sick and isn't racing but is still kitted out and cruising around on her bike. Time to get out of the heat, we get cleaned up and we meet up for a nice dinner at Bubba Gumps but we call it a night early so we can get up early.

It's now Sunday and we get up at 6am and hustle to get to the race course early. Today Dan and Kari are racing and their starts are around 7:30am. We load up bottles of water and sport drink and our Cameras, jump on our bikes and meet up with them before the race starts. Dan is calm but Kari seems a bit nervous and she spends a lot of time warming up. We stay and take picture of their starts and then we head up the race course in reverse. We head to the top of one of the nasty fireroad climbs and hang out with a lot of other spectators. I take pictures and chat with others as racers come around. Then Kari comes thru and gets a bottle from Molly and I pour water down her neck and back. She's going fast but I don't know where she sits in her group. Off she goes....now we hang and here comes Dan. Dan has to do two loops so we give him a bottle and soak him with water. After he passes we head down to the finish line but we can't find Kari. We also wait and wait and never see Dan come thru. I'm taking pictures but getting worried about Dan since he hasn't shown up. Eventually Dan walks up behind me and I'm wondering what the heck...How could I have missed him coming thru but he tells me he crashed hard on lap two and bailed out. But he's not hurt so it's all good and he tells me Kari took 2nd. Awesome. It was a tough womens field and Kari put it all out there. I'm extra excited for her as she had a set of Crank Brothers Cobalt wheels sent to her to race on and if she made the podium she gets to keep them for free. Well, guess who owns a nice set of wheels now! It is 96 degrees out and we are trashed so we bail on watching the pro race. We head into town and get lunch and chill at the hotel, getting things organized for the long drive home.

I split up the return trip to be exactly 8 hours of driving each day. So on Monday we kinda sleep in and head out around 9:30. On the drive, I get bored as we are getting close to Yreka and pull out my mobile phone and check status updates on Facebook. There is a note from Molly's brother who is driving from Seattle to Shasta to climb and ski and is stopping for the night in Yreka. We pull off and meet up for an early dinner or late lunch (Linner). It was pure luck that I looked at the phone just 6 miles from where he was but it was a nice break and distraction. We get to the hotel and chill. We do get up early cause I want to do Mikes hill climbing ride at 5:30. We make good time and get home around 3. Unload and change. Man I'm stiff...hope this isn't a mistake.

We had a great time at Sea Otter. What a crazy mash-up of different types of cyclists. I'd love to do it again. Apparently it was a fluke that the weather was nice. Normally it's cold, wet and windy. We only had the latter. Now it's time to clean the bikes! Until next time......

Budu Race #6 @ South Seatac Park

Today we are back to the old familiar South Seatac Park. We on the west side do a LOT of races here and it's also a fun place to race, as long as you don't do it too often. The course today was the exact opposite of of what we did earlier in the season. We did 16 miles of fast rolling singletrack. The rain held off and the trails were pretty dry so it turned out to be a great race for most. There was one very unfortunate event that I hope we hear a follow-up. A sport racer was warming up and playing on the jumps and he cased the landing and went in hard. 911 was called and they boarded him and took him to harborview. I really hope he's OK and hopefully we'll hear something.

So the Budu series is over for this year. It turned out to be a good series and hopefully good prep for Indie and the rest of the season.

Today I got my first podium place for the season. 3rd place in the race and 2nd place in Expert for the series. So no matter what happens for the rest of the season I'm happy.

Next week is Sea Otter so we'll see how this early season series has prepared me.

Budu Race #5 @ Fort Ebey

I love riding at Ft. Ebey in the winter. It sits in the middle of Whidbey Island and is smack dab in the middle of a rain shadow so it generally gets about 10% of the rain we get in the rest of western Washington. It is also very sandy so it drains well. This combined with the warmest day of spring led to high expectations for the day. But Marshall is known for putting together a tough race so I knew a challenge was ahead. So early to Ebey I go. I decide to drive around as it take the same amount of time as the ferry and is cheaper since my bike setup is "overhight". I get there and do some warm up but I'm sore and tired from a hard day on the bike the previous day so I hope for the best. The race starts and I get a crappy start but I enjoy the technical descent but then the climbing starts. Oh..It's steep and a lot of it. I'm doing everything I can but I just don't have it today so I settle in for a long day. I cook'n as fast as I can and I eventually overtake a few others. Some have cramped and some have bonked. I've given away all my food to those in need and continue along my "merry" way. It's getting hard to make the hills now as they are STEEP but I keep going as hard as I can with cramps just kept at bay. The race is long at 22 miles and lots of climbing with 3500 ft of short punchy ascents. I find out that I'm 6th which was a suprise since I'd ridden so much of the race alone. It was an awefully nice day to race and was wrapped up with some good brews and food at the Diamond Knot. I'll do this race again next year!