Bike Page > Bike Races > '04 Sea Otter Classic

Pictures from the 2004 Sea Otter Classic
Monterey, CA

Blue Skies and dusty trails...

I had headed up to the Laguna Seca course to preride the Otter '04, and after enjoying the roller coaster ride down which starts this extremely fun course, I paused for a moment to record some panoramas. In the wide vista below, "Hurl Hill" is the lump in the center of the stitched-together frames. The trail itself winds down through another shallow bowl before contouring almost out of view to the right hand side of the photo - behind the trees. From there you angle up a bit and then face the steep pitch which brings you back to the fire road.

  Before starting off again, I took a moment to turn south and take a picture of the "Rollar Coaster Ridge" behind me. That's first serious descent after you climb to the top of the Laguna Seca Raceway. After last year's "slip & slide", the dusty bumps were a welcome contrast.

Off again on the pre-ride, I was overtaken by some pros as I climbed the steeper bits of Hurl Hill. At least they had the kindness to stop talking to one another while they hit the steeper bits of it.

Big-ringing down the fireroad, the signs pointed a different way than in years past. They had changed the course (to a trail I found during the 2003 pre-ride), which added a nice contouring singletrack section which climbed mildly. It eventually kicked you out at the top of a switchback drop which met up with the previous years course (for a while).

The final pre-ride shot on the right is the "Second Meadow", which follows the fire road descent, the new singletrack bit and the contouring goat path. In the distance, you can see the trees where the next climb starts before dropping through a wicked-fun descent to the feed station.)

I opted out of a few parts of the far end of the course, and rolled home

Race Day -

After a quick climb up the paved race course, we hit the dry trails - here we're taking the right turn which takes us to the highest spot on the course - always fun after standing in place at the start line for 15 minutes or so.

    Left to right: (1) View of "Hurl Hill" from the fireroad to the west. It was much sunnier than last year's race. You can see some earlier riders beginning to chip away at the incline. (2) One rider wasn't so lucky, though, and they had to bring in an ambulance against the flow of the race. (3)After the steep bit, you need to find the biggest gear you have and recover ast you fly down a wide fireroad....

If I can overcome the technical challenge,
the still frame above might just
end up being a video clip of hurl hill...

This shot was snapped by Brightroom.com
I thought this was taken just after cresting the first hill.
But, it probably was a bit later, since I seem to have
unzipped the jersey a bit... Probably a the change from the new early singletrack section,
just below the slalom bit, and I'm lining up for a 180 degree left turn.

     
The final "ooomph" up out of the valley trying to hang onto the fast clysedales and singlespeeders who were working up through our group of riders. Finally, as things level out, I'm trying to convince myself I can use a bigger gear before heading back onto the raceway and looking for a wheel to follow to the finish.

Full Men's 40-44 XC Results here - Full Otter Results Page here

     
It's time to let the racers out of the cage now...

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