Sea Otter Classic - Day 2 (Course Preview)

Day 2 of the Sea Otter Classic brought about more beautiful weather - sunshine, mid 60s, and a slight breeze coming in off the ocean.  Tim and I went out about 11am to get him checked in, and get a pre-ride.  We got about 12 miles of riding in, checking out the first third of the course and the last couple of miles, including the finishing section.

Course description:  The race course starts on Laguna Seca Raceway (right before turn 4, for you racing buffs out there), circumnavigating backward to nearly the Corkscrew descent.  From there it splits off the track, and heads out on a rolling doubletrack across a hillside ridge.  Dives into a twisty-but-fast singletrack through the trees (pic right), where every corner is loose sand, and the trail is flanked on both sides with thick, lush vegetation.  Cross a road, start climbing on the same singletrack, where it goes from dense treese and underbrush to a sandy, sunny, desert-like climb.  Some very gravelly and rolling jeep road, into the first "technical descent" of the day.

Note:  When I see a sign that says "CAUTION:  TECHNICAL DESCENT AHEAD", big rocks, drops, etc. come to mind.  Pick a line or pick a gravestone type stuff.  I do live in Colorado, after all.  Not here.  Technical descent, and there were three such marked, means a 200-meter long sandbox at 12% grade.  Very ridable on the 29er, but still squirmy.  Brakes are no good through these...they're a one-way ticket to Screwed City.  Messing up one of these sections is a severe time penalty, not a health penalty.

Anyways, out of the first descent and into another singletrack through dense veg, climbing at 8-15% for 5-6 minutes (pic left of Tim getting to the crest of the hill).  On top of the hill, the singletrack turns a little drier and flattens out for a hammer session.  Quickly drop down a gnarly gravelly jeep road, then a pavement downhill for a mile or so.  Dirt road through the neutral feed area, then climbing on that dirt road for another 5-6 minutes.  Turn off onto a singletrack through more dense veg for a while, then up a super-rutted and super-steep 50 yard climb (People were congregating here, cheering us all on during the race.  Much appreciated.).  At the top of that climb, went right back down a super-rutted, super-steep doubletrack down the other side.  Think Endo Alley for you Vail Valley riders.  More sandy and up-and-down singletrack that was very very sandy on flat ground...not exactly my cup of tea.

Wrapping around that area, we start heading back toward the venue (we're at about mile 10 on the lap now).  More singletrack through what seemed to be a frequent of cattle and/or sheep.  Big mud puddles, some of which were pretty tricky to get through.  Singletrack wound around for a little, finally meeting up with another dirt road.  A lot of the terrain from miles 11 to 16 was very repeating...a mix of singletrack and dirt road across open fields, with the exception of a pretty steep pavement climb a half mile long in the middle of it.

Eventually you get to this open field area on a dirt road, which you see extending on out in front of you.  An undulating climb is seen, and off in the distance, you see the last crest.  What you then realize is the crest you see in the distance is 4 miles away.  That was a long and trudging affair.  From that point, you lap through (like we did), or proceed straight to the finish.  Keep climbing up the hill to the very top, and hop into the race venue.  Ride through a gate then across the racetrack using the bridge at the Corkscrew, then you're dumped into what could only be described as a cyclocross course.  Banner tape everywhere, lots of steep ups, steep downs, technical ups, technical downs, and thick grass, grass, grass.  Keep in mind they made us go through this stuff after already racing 37 miles.

After finally winding around on the hillside for what seemed like forever, we eventually came through the finish.

Wow.  I got tired just typing that.

So, Tim and I rode miles 1 through 8 and 15-19, thereby cutting out the most difficult sections of the course and saving the legs.

Corkscrew descent (pic left) on the raceway - one of the most famous raceway features in the world.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  It is DOWN.  You're dropping 100 feet at probably 30% grade, while performing a hard left-to-right s-turn, coming into it at full throttle.  If someone would have said I could trade my race registration in for a day racing a Mazda 'round the course, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

Back to the hotel for a nap and a shower, then off to Monterey for a decent dinner.  Hit up this bayside pasta and pizza joint that wasn't half bad.  Wasn't worth the price, though.  It was good, but on a scale of 'picking out of the garbage' to 'exquisite dining', it was 'meh'.  Picture right from the boardwalk at the restaurant...Japan is somewhere off that general direction.