Hi All! I just got back from the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. Our trip started on Wednesday after school, and after some last minute packing we headed off to California. After sixteen hours of driving we finally arrived in Monterey (which after venturing to Fisherman’s Wharf I discover was on the coast), and it was HOT and HUMID. In Colorado we’ve been having temperatures in the 70s, but it was in the 90s there!
Day 1 – Training Day
Thursday was the training ride on the road race course, and boy was it fun! The course started out with a long fast decent that had numerous sharp turns. We all sped down trying to gather as much speed as possible for the climbs that would follow. After the downhill my teammate, Laurel, informed me that the whole downhill was neutral. The first climb was a tiered climb that was steep. The rest of the course was pretty steady rolling hills that were usually less than thirty seconds. Our race would take two laps on the course, but we only rode one. For me the absolutely hardest part of the whole course was the last two miles that were up the really fun neutral downhill.
Day 2 – Circuit Race
The Cork Screw
The next day was the Circuit Race which would be our first team road race. The course was on a race car track, and was extremely fast except for the steep climb at the beginning of the course. The loop was 2.2 miles long with two climbs in a row, then the Cork Screw which sent you out on a small loop, up a hill, under a bridge-tent thing, around a final sweeping corner, and into the finish line. The race started pretty fast, and I was excited because I didn’t know what to expect on the course. I thought the first hill was fairly easy, and wondered what the fuss about a ‘big hill’ was about. Then I saw a very steep medium length hill staring at me. The hill was not as hard as I first thought, but was by no means challenging! As we crested the hill I couldn’t see the downhill yet, and worried that the Cork Screw would be really scary. The first time it was, but I gained confidence each time I rode it. Throughout the course some of the race riders gradually fell of the back, and I was excited to find myself in the pack coming into the last lap. Then BAM an Exergy 2012 rider was off the front, and she looked as if she had no intention of slowing down! No one chased her, and by the time we realized she was gone she was way gone. There was another attack up the steep hill which Laurel and I girled up and hung on to the pack as we did our final decent down the cork screw. As we came into the last corner I was poorly positioned, but still managed to have a strong sprint finish. I ended up 7th, and Laurel took 6th.
This race was a huge learning experience not only for me, but the whole team! We experimented with some different tactics, and figured out what works and what doesn’t.
Day 3 – Road Race
Colorado Girls!
Road Race Start
Photo Credit: Davide Cerutti
Our last race was the road race. This was the course that we did on the training day. We had an early start, 7:08 a.m., and we got on our bikes around six for warm up. I was kind of nervous for this race because hilly road races haven’t really been my strength in the past, but I was feeling more confident after the circuit race, and thought that if I was able to hang in during that race the road race would be fine. And I was mostly right. The neutral downhill as was predicted was very slow, but still fun. We made a left hand turn, and then a right and we were climbing up the first hill before I knew what was happening! There weren’t any attacks on the first lap, but when we made the left back onto the course everyone started sprinting up the hill!!! I discovered at this point that I was not to well positioned to cover an attack, and I took matters into my own hands and sprinted up the hill in order to catch the leaders. Little did I remember that this was a tiered climb, and when I thought we were going to crest the hill we still have another 100 meters to go! Three others were a little off the back of the lead group, and we worked together to catch the group. When we caught them I found Laurel in the pack, and she told me that people were taking turns doing hard pulls, and she asked if I would do one. So I rode the the front with Laurel on my wheel, and began doing my fair share up front. To my surprise I enjoyed controlling the pace! I don’t think I dropped anybody, but I liked climbing at my pace. When I thought my pull was over I peeled on the front, and the other 15 year old did the same thing I did. As we went down the last decent I realized that we had the two mile hill back up to the finish. I hung on for about a mile up, but my legs started giving up on me! A mile later as I crossed the finish line, and my dad said it looked like I was going to ride off the road because I was so exhausted. I finished 12th out of 18, but when I look back at it there isn’t much I could have done to go faster up that hill!
Hope you enjoyed this post! I’m getting into a more consistent race schedule now, and will be racing the Koppenberg this weekend!
Marta
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