Sea Otter Classic

The Short Version: two new jerseys, two baseball caps, one pair of fun sunglasses, one t-shirt, one hot pair of mtb shorts, one super cute sweatshirt, two massive bruises, one duffle bag of very dirty, wet cycling clothing, one skinned knee, one pair of lost tights, one extremely fun weekend.




The Long Version:
One of the great perks of my job is the fact that I get to escape Boston every 5-6 weeks. The forecast for Boston was looking pretty gloomy - high 30s, drizzle, rain. But I didn’t care - I was headed west for the week. Mostly for work but with a side trip to Monterey for the Sea Otter. Monday’s weather in Boston was nice enough for a 25 mile ride including sprints despite a wind gusting to 30mph. Caught the JetBlue nonstop to SJ and stepped off the plane into a CA sunset that was as warm as it was pretty.

I tried to time my training so that the trip coincided with a recovery week. I still felt a bit nuts not being able to ride. I did manage one spin class with the TCB along with a totally awful run on the treadmill. For some reason, I had an incredibly difficult time adjusting to west coast time and even my weight workouts lacked energy.

Friday morning, I jumped in my rented Chevy Trailblazer and headed south on 101 to Monterey airport where I picked up S. From there we headed into Monterey to pick up our rental bikes (full suspension Diamondbacks from Joselyn's Bicycles - decent stuff. Check them out if you ever want to ride in the area and don’t want to deal with shipping/flying your bike.) < rant > I used to fly my bike or ship it to CA at least a couple of times a year and was planning on doing so for this trip until I discovered how much prices had gone up. In June of ’05 it cost around $100 each way to ship my bike Fedex 3-day air coast to coast with insurance. The quote for this trip was $260 each way. That was more than the flight to transport me! Gas prices suck. I didn’t even check on the cost for checking the bike on JetBlue - it used to be $75. But dealing with a bike as checked luggage is a total PITA in this security paranoid time. I still don’t understand why skis/snowboards/golf bags all fly free and bikes don’t. When my bike is packed in its hardcase, it’s way smaller than my dead-body snowboard bag that carries two boards, two pairs of boots and enough clothing and gear to outfit the entire Olympic winter team < /rant >

So, a full suspension mountain bike cost me $100 for the day. Obviously not cost effective if you’re using it for a week but good enough for what I wanted - one day of trails at Sea Otter.

After picking up the bikes we headed up to Laguna Seca. As we reached the entrance I think both of our jaws just dropped. The entire area inside the race track was full of booths from every vendor related in any possible way to cycling.
Bikes, components, clothing, beer... My mind now filled with ideas of how to fit all the schwag I was going to pick up in my suitcase on the way back. Tons of people on bikes, campers, RVs, and a hillside that reminded me a little bit of the Sound of Music where Julie Andrew’s is spinning around singing. Except this hillside was covered with cars with bike racks. This was going to be fun!

It seemed that we had arrived as the day was in full swing so our assigned parking was a fair distance away from the expo. We threw on our cycling shoes, helmets, backpacks - grabbed the rental bikes and rode into the party. The first booth that caught our attention was Vanderkitten. And of course, we just had to buy a couple of totally cute jerseys. We checked out booth after booth until our eyes were starting to glaze over. I never thought it would be possible but apparently even I have a some sort of threshold for bicycling related things. The fact that we had skipped lunch in our excitement to get there probably didn’t help either.

The next day, we met TCB and ETM at the Starbucks on Highway 218 before heading out to Sea Otter. The forecast was for 55-60, cloudy skies and a 60% chance of showers. Given my experience with CA and rain, I figured if it did anything, it would spit on us for 5 minutes - long enough to treat us to a killer rainbow after it blew through. The start for our ride wasn’t the best organized. First, there was the conflicting times - did it start at 9 or 9:30am? Then no one seemed to really know just where the start was. After scurrying around a bit we finally figured it out and headed off. Things didn’t kick off well. S’s bike was shifting on its own, she was getting frustrated and was threatening to bail 1/2 mile in. I managed to adjust the derailleur a bit, the sun started peeking through and things started looking up (including the trail).


The trails in CA are SO different from the east coast. No loose boulders, no evil tree roots. For the most part, the biggest obstacles were the gullies in the trails along with some serious sand. I thoroughly enjoyed the downhill single track in the first half. A total blast. Even the downhill in the sandy trails was fun. Riding cross all fall definitely paid off. I did manage two falls. Neither nasty but ended up with two huge bruises. One of which is making my flight home a tad uncomfortable.


About 7 miles into the ride, it started spitting on us. And given we were in the middle of a long climb, it actually felt good. Then it started raining harder. And harder. And harder. About that time, we reached the top of the climb and were riding on top of an exposed ridge. Rain blowing sideways, winds around 30 mph and it was hitting my face so hard I could have sworn it was hail. Still not sure about that. Took shelter under some little tree to put on my helmet beanie (such a prepared east coaster!), jacket and leg warmers on. I felt warmer but still not super comfortable. Each pedal stroke squished a flood of water out of my shoe. The bike was getting blown sideways and forward motion was triplely hard due to the headwind, the climb and now muddy trails. When I asked TCB if she was ok, she surprisingly said, “No.” Her quads were shaking (note to self: remind her to eat more). ETM was trying to be a tough guy but even he was swearing like a sailor with each huge gust of wind driven rain. We weren’t quite sure how much further we had to go. The volunteers didn’t know either. And now, pick-up trucks were out on the trail sagging riders. Every time we’d get to the top of a hill hoping to see the race track and expo, we were presented with yet another hill. Finally, the trailed turned down, came around a corner and we saw some campers. I don’t think S and I have ever been so happy to see campers.


Felt great to get out of those soaked clothes. Felt even better to enjoy a beer in downtown Monterey afterward. I only wish the sun had come out so we could have enjoyed the after ride BBQ, beer and expo. And of course, today’s forecast was for 75 and sun. I’m definitely not having any weather luck.