Sea Otter Classic Circuit & Road Race Reports from Harris G (2021)
Circuit: W3/4/Novice 10.8.21 - 2nd/7 in Novice
Road: W3/4/Novice 10.10.21 - 5th/14 in NoviceThis weekend was Sea Otter, and a few of us traveled down to Laguna Seca for a weekend of racing and all things bike-related. I raced for the first time in the circuit and road races, entering in the novice category for both. Overall, I'm happy with how things went, but definitely learned some lessons the hard way that I'm making a mental note of for future races.Circuit
Friday's race was the Circuit Race, which is held on the track at Laguna Seca. My partner is a HUGE car racing fan, so was jealous of me getting to see Laguna Seca up close and personal. I did a course recon early Fri morning and then again during the warm-up, both times taking note of the climb up to the top of the corkscrew, and my preferred line down the corkscrew and through the rest of the turns. The track has great traction, and the wind didn't seem too bad, although it was expected to increase throughout the day.Lining up, there were a few teams of 2 present, and I had some friends in the race to work with. The whistle blew, and things took off. The first lap was fast, and I focused on making my way towards the front. I managed to tuck in to the front of the pack for the first few laps, avoiding some sketchy close calls with twitchy riders and gusty winds.When we reached the 3rd lap, one of the teams of 2 decided to attack on the climb, and several of us chased to keep on, but a gap opened up, which we were easily able to close during the descent and subsequent turn into the headwind (which was picking up at this point). Then, on the 4th lap, the team attacked again, and this time I didn't have it in me to close the gap on the climb, and found myself with a few others trying to catch back on for the last 2 laps.On the last lap, I had caught the other novice riders that had fallen off the lead group, only to later learn that one of these 2 was actually in the Masters' category. I tucked in behind the 1st place, then saw my friend (Cat 3) just up ahead and jumped to catch her wheel instead, hoping to drop the other novice rider. Unfortunately, she managed to stay on my wheel, and I found myself leading the 3 of us all the way to the finish, kicking hard for the last 200m, but ultimately leading her out for the sprint. Later in debriefing, my friend and I realized our mistake, and that I should've cued her to lead us in. Lesson learned at the expense of a 1st place in my first race, but I'll take the podium experience and a cool-looking medal!Road
My goal going into Sunday's Road Race was to beat the woman who beat me in the circuit, and to hang with the pack until the final climb. The route was a climbers' course, with ~4k' of climbing over 40 miles. After riding Tues/Thurs with the 5:30am crew, I thought this would be my kinda race!After a 2.5mi neutral start, we took off for 5 laps of a 7mi loop, ending with a 2.5 climb back up to the finish line. Each lap began with a .5mi climb at ~8.5%, and on the first lap, of course this was where attacks began out the gate. I fought hard to catch it and saw my friend who was also a novice make it on, but ended up with 2 others between the lead group and what I assume was the main group. We regrouped during the descent and spent a couple miles recovering until we were scooped up by the larger pack. At some point, one of the more experienced riders tried to coordinate a double paceline so we could chase efficiently, but with the number of inexperienced riders in the pack, it kept falling apart. We finally got it working for a short bit, but then hit another climb and that was the end of that. For the next 4 laps, I did whatever I could to stay with the pack, and attempt to eat/drink, which was much harder than I expected at race pace. At one point, we thought we saw riders ahead of us, but when we caught them, it turned out to be a family with a small child on a tag along bike. Soul crushing. On the 4th lap, I saw a coyote during the climb and yelled that out to the others, but realized nobody else was wasting their energy getting excited about wildlife, so I should probably shut up.Finally, on the last lap, there was another attack on the final climb, and I found myself as one of the last riders to make it on the smaller group for the lap. In our group, we had the Cat 3 leaders (1st-2nd), the Cat 4 5th-7th, and Novice 2nd-5th, with more not far behind. When we hit the final climb, a few folks took off at QOM pace, and I didn't have it in me to fight that, but was still eyeing the 3rd place for Novice. Then, about halfway up the climb, I watched 3rd and 4th take off, and I realized I had nothing left to give. At that point, my goal became to finish, and not let anyone else catch up. I succeeded at that, and locked in 5th within Novice, barely managing to get a foot out at the uphill finish line.Overall, the lesson learned - I need to eat earlier and more often, and probably something other than Gu, which just killed me trying to catch my breath. The other lesson learned, I was never that far behind the lead group, even though we never saw them. If I'd made it on after the first climb, I'm confident I could've kept up for the rest of the race and locked in a 1st/2nd finish. I think I held back, worried that I would blow all of my energy too early and then fall off, but judging by the finish times, it would've actually been manageable. As for my goal to beat the woman who beat me in the Circuit? Success. So can't complain there.Apologies for the self-indulgent, long race report - I'll let @Carissa Yao, @Leah T (she/her), & @Gabby Allong add their perspectives since they were out there kicking butt as well!
Race Report from Harris G.