My First SOC Experience

On April 18-20, 2010 I ventured out for my first Sea Otter Classic Race experience this year. The Sea Otter Classic is in Monterey, CA. It's a huge bike race/festival where people come from all over to race and see all things bike related. Apparently, it's a pretty big deal. I decided to go because I could get a lot of races done in a short amount of time. I was very close to getting my upgrade in road racing from Cat 4 to Cat 3 and knew this would be a good chance for me to get it. I also love mountain biking and wanted a chance to race with my fellow Mad Cat teammates on the ever popular Sea Otter Classic cross country trail. This meant 3 races in 2 days for me, not to mention the grueling race I'd just done 2 days earlier at Prairie City. Kinda crazy, but I wanted to try.

The view from our campsite

Steve graciously stayed home with the kids, got them off to school, picked them up, and even had them looking decent at church on Sunday when I finally came home. Is he great or what?

Bright and early Friday morning I headed out for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Monterey. After finding my team campsite, picking up my registration packet, and getting dressed, I barely made it in time for my first race, the road circuit race. I didn't even get to warm up. The circuit race is exactly what the name implies, a closed circuit race that takes riders around the famous Laguna Seca Raceway track. The course is grueling, to say the least, but mixed with some really fast exciting descents. I raced with the cat 3/4 women up this incredibly difficult climb and then tucked and flew down the corkscrew descent with my speed going up to 45 mph. We probably went around that course 8-10 times until our hour was up. I lost the main pack on the first couple climbs but stayed in the chaser pack the rest of the race. At the end I was confident that I would be able to pull off a good hard sprint to the finish...and I did! I was neck and neck with another cat 4 girl but hammered through and won the pack sprint. This put me in 6th overall, missing the medal by 1 spot. Not too shabby for such a high profile race!

The top 3 women in my race.

Missed the podium by one spot!

After the race I showered, cooked up some stew on my little camping stove, and hung out with some of the team around the fire until we all retired to bed nice and early in preparation for an early mountain bike race the next morning.It was a beautiful sunny morning for the cross country race. I raced in the women's cat 2 age 30-39 class. I had a handful of fellow teammates to race with...a nice change. It was a really hard race, but really fun too. Lots of hard steep climbs and several technical descents including really deep sand sections. I was super proud of the way I rode. I stayed on my bike and handled everything that came my way. My back didn't hurt too much, which I was most grateful for! I ended up in 15th place. Not bad.

Before the mountain bike race: me, Melissa Murphy, Jen Brandt, Erin Upchurch.

Somewhere in the middle of the race.

One of the last grueling climbs 21 miles later. I rocked it!

Finished and smiling! Me, Melissa Murphy, Erin Upchurch, Dee Larsen.

I had a whopping 3 hours to be ready for my next race, the 47 mile road race. My mission: fuel up, rest (as best I could with all the noise going on), and get my game face on. I figured rest and fueling up was more important than a good warm-up for this race, so I did a very short warm-up. Asa Salas, my only teammate, was already on the starting line by the time I got there. I was a few rows back. The first 4 miles or so were "neutral", meaning riding slow, no racing. There were a few climbs in the neutral section and I lost the pack on the first climb. Sad, but my legs were quite resistant to the activity. Fortunately, there was a nice long descent and I was able to catch them again. Finally, we were given the okay to start racing and up came another hill. Bye-bye everyone! See you at the finish. They left me in the dust. That's okay. I knew this would happen. I was just riding to finish, that's all. I enjoyed the beautiful day, the pretty flowers, and felt grateful for the opportunity to even be there. As I was about to start my 5th and last lap I was told to head on to the finish line and not complete the last lap. Bummer. I was 8 miles short of my 47 mile goal. Oh well. The last 2 miles were all uphill. It was painful and I rode painfully slow. I probably crossed the finish line at about 1 mph. Later on Steve told me how proud he was of me and that I would not regret racing all three races in two days. It would teach me mental toughness. You could say that again!!! I ended up something like 20th place and, shockingly, didn't come in last place. There were about 5 other women behind me. I never knew!

Teammate Asa Salas on the line. I'm a few rows back.

Ladies, start your engines!

Barely moving towards the finish line.

You better believe I was so happy to be finished racing for the weekend. Unfortunately, since I spent so much time racing and preparing to race I didn't get to see as many of the other things going on there at the festival. I saw a little, enough to know my family would have a great time if we came next year. I hung out with the team the rest of the night, got to know some people a little better, cheered a few teammates on the next morning, and headed home to teach my R.S. lesson at church. All in all, a great experience. Yes, I believe I got enough to points to earn my upgrade! YES!!!

Chris Patterson, George Dunkum (Asa's husband and fellow teammate), Kris Morin, and me before heading home.

Jen Brandt, Kris Morin, me, and Chris Patterson.