For those of you have never been to Sea Otter, I’ll describe it as the one of the most amazing bike events on the planet – well I suppose that would be behind the tour and Interbike. The venue is Laguna Seca raceway in Montery, Ca and the energy spewing from the event is just crazy – lots of races and demonstrations going on all over the place. If you do the circuit race then you are racing where some of the amazing elite road car racers have been. The road race and mtb races all start on the track, so there is a ton of energy, buzz and excitement. The fields are big – 100 in my cat 5 road race group this year. The mtb sport fields get about 200 each, but unfortunately there was not enough time in the schedule to stay for the mtb races on Sunday.
Race morning goes pretty well – stayed in an el cheapo motel and got about 5 hours sleep. I got more sleep the night before an IM. Thought I was relaxed – it is just another RR, but Sea Otter has a way bringing out that nervous race energy. This was my fifth trip down since 99. Fortunately, the sleep was good the night before. Got to the race early to get my race number and chip. I pull out the race number and it is 333. Finally a cool race number – usually it is something like 2657. My buddy wonders if that is a good sign – I say I hope so.
The course that lies ahead is 48 miles with over 4K of climbing. I did the race two years prior and know about the steep wall and the dreaded climb out. I vow not to make the rookie mistakes of two years ago – forgot to eat, attacked on the downhill and took pulls of the front – oops and dropped on the last climb. You all know what it feels like to get dropped……… Ok so race start goes well and I feel ok. The first lap around the track before we head to the canyon is neutral. This probably helped to save a few crashes. There were all sorts out there – a few small teams and a few folks with camel backs. Me and one other guy look to be the oldest out there. 30+ was full, so I’m out there with the young guys – yikes their wheels were terrible except for about 10 guys. Cornering was very sketchy as well. So I work my way to the top third as I know half of the 100 will be shelled on the first climb – and it is a doosy. The wall hits you at the bottom of the canyon decent. Only about a quarter mile or so, but it is around 10% - maybe a little more. We have to do this how many times? Four laps up that bugger. So the first time up I stay near the front to check out the competition – my HR spikes and I am breathing hard – ok everyone else is too. At the top it levels off, but my legs feel sluggish and tired. Shit – three more climbs……… I wonder what that fourth one will feel like. My memory reminds me of an mtb race I did with four laps and a brutal climb – I think I walked it the last lap! OK get that out of your head and just suck wheel. A few guys are of the front, but my strategy is to let someone else cover the attacks and if someone is strong enough to solo so be it. The group brings them back in on the downhill.
On the second lap someone got off the front after the first climb – no one responded – oh well. My legs were started to feel better, but I continued to stick to my strategy and just continue to suck wheel and push off the flickers. Typical RR – people were trying to steal my wheel, so I just held ground and made them suffer in the wind – not gonna take my wheel sorry! I scoped out the stronger climbers and stayed behind them on the short climbs. There were always three or four guys who would push the pace on the flats and downhills – more power to them. On the third lap I asked a guy what our average speed was because it seemed pretty fast for a 5s race. He said 21.8 and a couple other guys had the same. Not too shabby for 930 ft. of climber per lap (about 10 miles). We are down to a core group of about 30 but none of them are dropping. I say to myself, “just stay cool and focused.” A guy two bikes in front loses it on the corner, we swerve and narrowly miss him. The group rolls on. Amazingly enough the guy got back into the group on the fourth lap – nothing broken so that is good.
Fourth lap. I am suffering on the wall climb, but still remained in the top 20. I recover on the downhill, fuel up some more and start to mentally prepare for what is to come. We are down to about 25 halfway through, but I am starting to lose focus and get slightly dizzy. I draw upon the IM training and prior races where I just had to dig hard even though my legs wanted to quit. Then I hear a nasty noise in the corner – someone stacked hard a few bikes back. OK stay focused and safe I am thinking. I then get a bit of a second wind (well maybe it was the fifth or sixth second wind). I hear we are still at 21.5 avg. On the last downhill this guy attacks – wasted energy. A few cover and we are right there. By now I have focused on positioning up to the top 5 – I want to see what is going on. We have 2 miles or so of uphill – this year the finish is on the uphill. Not sure if an uphill finish is what I want. Oh yeah that guy who went off the front kept gaining and was nowhere to be found, so the battle is for second. I find the guys who looked good earlier on the climb and get behind them. We are three wide and I am in second on the left side. The ascent was gradual but then got steeper. With 1 mile to go the group is starting to splinter and we are down to about 15. I am getting really tired, but still have a little in the tank – very little. We hit a steep section about 10% or so and the group looks tired. One guy goes and I go with him – there is the 1K sign. I had not used my burst yet and hope it is there. The two of us get off and I say to him lets go I think we shelled them. He looks beat. I realized I just used my burst. They have a 200m sign like in the tour. If Phil Ligget were commentating, he would say something like the group has cracked and “they are spread eagled all over the road.” “Their legs are screaming in utter pain.” The one guy gets away and I try to dig hard but my legs feel like they have seized up – I swear we were going backward. With 100m to go the guy who crashed is coming up on me. I hear someone on the road side yell(still do not know who yet). “Jason, Jason – he’s on your wheel! Spin him off, spin him off – get him off your wheel!” Is he kidding? I’ve got zippo left. Somehow the guy is dropping off as I grunt for more juice out of the legs – one pedal comes out with 50m to go. “F#%&!” I get it back in – look back and realize he bonked. I crossed the mats heard the chip beep and just stopped. I got out of the way and literally almost fell over. That one really hurt. I regained some composure and managed not to throw up - close though. Then realized I took third and was all smiles (maybe I should have played the lotto – 3 seems to be lucky).
I know some of you are data fiends – sorry no power meter……yet
ascent 4120 ft.
48 miles
2:17
avg speed 21
avg. HR 167Max HR 194
