Sea Otter Classic

Well I survived the trip to California. It was my first time out there. California is an amazing place, I just wish the weather had cooperated better for us. Megan and I arrived at the host house around 11:30 Thursday night. Julia was already there because she drove down with Chris and Alex on Wednesday. The host mom was up waiting for us. This place was the nicest house I've ever been in. The neighborhood was up in the hills (I call them hills because they were only around 1400feet). The host dad is an architect, and it showed. Heated floors, wooden floors, walls, ceilings, all the new technology, etc. Amazing! The host family was super nice too!
Flying over the Rockies.

The Grand Canyon???
That's downtown L.A. somewhere in there.

The host houses living room (sorry it's kind of blurry).
A view from the porch at the host house.
A view from the front of the house.

Wake-up call for Friday morning wasn't too early. Our race wasn't until 12:08 so we had time to sleep in. The host family has a pet wild turkey (ok so maybe it's not a pet, but it lives on their property). It was wondering around the yard when we woke up. The three of us packed our road bikes into the rental car and headed down to the Laguna Seca Speedway. It was less than 15miles from our host house. Friday was the nicest of the 3 days. Temperatures hovered in the 60's and the sun came out for a little while. It wasn't too windy, but it could have been that the course was pretty sheltered. There was lots of climbing in the race. Two bigger climbs and a couple false flats and power climbs. Once we made it to the loop, we did 5 laps. The race was right at 47miles long, and I heard rumors of near 5000feet of climbing for the entire race. I stayed near the front of the pack for 2/3 the race. The field was small (20ish), but full of big names. I rode on Tina Pic's wheel for quite a while. Kelly Benjamin, Laura Van Gilder, Dotsie Bausch, and many others. Things picked up toward the end of the race. A group of 3 rolled off the front. I started to fade. I was able to hang on to the pack until the final 2-mile climb. The first mile of it was ok, but once we hit the steep section in the last mile, I lost contact with the group. It was shattered though, and I could see riders all over the road ahead of me. My teammate Megan pulled off a 6th place finish though. Very impressive considering the competition. I came in 14th, beating Laura and Kelly (ok, so I know they were saving it for Saturday's race, but still, it's a once in a lifetime thing right?? haha). It was a tough race, and I knew the circuit race was going to be brutal. I even changed my goal of finishing the race to making it half-way through.
Laguna Seca Speedway.

So the circuit race was on Saturday. We were off at 10:15. It was super cold and windy. I think it was in the 40's with 20mph wind. The race was on the Laguna Seca Speedway. It was crazy. The same people showed up from the road race, plus another 40 riders. Cheerwine, Colavita, Team Tibco, Vanderkitten, Proman, and several other teams were in full force. Megan, Julia, and I were just hoping to hang on. The race started off tame. We went up a climb that was pretty gradual but kicked up at the top. This is were the Queen of the Mountain competition took place every 5 laps. Then we descended down the corkscrew into a cross wind. It was scary and I always found myself at the back of the pack. Luckily they almost always sat up at the bottom. Eventually I got dropped with a few other riders after an acceleration and some gapping on the hill. A few laps later, the moto-ref tried to pull us even though the pack was literally less than 100feet ahead of us. We finally made contact with the pack. They had definitely sat up, probably because a rider from all the big teams had made the break that was up the road. Laps kept passing by and my legs started to feel the climb. On one lap I got gapped again from the field. This time I couldn't catch back on. I was alone, and knew it was pointless to try and chase by myself in the wind. So I came around the start/finish line and pulled myself. 5 laps to go. I met my goal! I figured I should probably save a little energy for the mountain bike race on Sunday anyway. Megan stayed in the field and duked it out in the finish for 19th place. In the money!! Sweet!
Pre-race - "Guys, what were we thinking?"
The line-up in the Pro/1/2 NRC circuit race.
Hanging out at the back of the pack as we headed up the hill.
That was hard...
Megan and Julia post-race.

Sunday was the earliest race of the weekend. My race took off at 9:02am after being delayed 30minutes for some reason. My mountain bike wasn't in great working condition after my crash at Fruita. I couldn't get the brakes adjusted right and the shifting was off. At this point, I really didn't care. So I lined up for the expert women 19-29 race. I saw fellow Iowan, Becca Finley, there as well. Crazy running into her there! Our race was just shy of 20miles. I hadn't pre-ridden the course so knew I was in for a treat. The race started on the speedway. We kept a good pace but all stuck together. Most of the trail was double track, but the single track sections were sweet. There was a few sandy sections that were a bit sketchy. I took the lead as soon as we hit the dirt. I got caught on a decent and told the girl I didn't know the trail. So I sat on her wheel for a while. We passed a lot of people from prior age groups. This helped us put a gap on the rest of the riders. Finally, we came to a steep single track hill and I came around the girl and never looked back. There was a ton of climbing in this race, which I think worked to my advantage considering I didn't know the trail and was extremely slow through the single track and sandy sections. I rode with a girl from a younger age group for quite a while and kept asking her how much further the finish was. Finally we came to the last climb. Then it was pretty much all downhill back to the start/finish on the speedway. I won the race, putting just under 3minutes on 2nd place. I was pleased, considering the previous races hadn't gone so well for me.
Podium for expert women 19-29.

Sea Otter is an awesome event and I plan to go back next year. We were able to be tourist while we were there and went to the Monterey Aquarium. It was pretty neat. I wish the weather would have been nicer, but I'll take the cold over rain any day. That's pretty much all I have to say about that. It was neat being at the same event as some of the top riders in the world. Definitely a learning experience, and I thank everyone who helped me get there this year.
Jelly fish at the aquarium.
A really big turtle.
The Pacific Ocean!!
Kelp forest.
You could pet this little guy.


Next up is collegiate conference finals in Laramie, Wyoming this weekend. Should be windy...Wyoming is always windy...ugh!!! Take care!!
-A