Ho hum. I wish I had better news to report, but I think my legs failed to get the memo telling them to show up for 2 really hard races this weekend. Plus, a nasty pre-ride crash on Friday robbed me of most of my descending confidence for the rest of the weekend. Bad combination for optimal performance which is probably why I came away with a 19th in the short track and 23rd in the xc.
But the good news is that Sea Otter is always Sea Otter. It's a great time to catch up with old friends, to make new ones and to be comfortably surrounded by thousands of fellow bike nerds. You can't beat the race vibe of this race and this year did not disappoint. The only thing different was that the Larabar booth decided to restrict samples to 2 per person.
However, the biggest bummer of the weekend for me was the decision by race officials the morning of the xc race to cut the distance in half (to 16 miles) for the pro women because of the extreme heat. The men's race was also shortened, but they got to do one long and one short lap. I was NOT stoked about that decision. I'm a big fan of Sea Otter for many reasons, but one important one is the fact that it's one of the few times women get to race the same distance as the men. Mostly I was bummed because I really, really needed that race to be 38 miles long as planned. Typically, the longer it gets, the faster I go. My poor little cold weather-calibrated Idaho body suffered greatly in the 94 degree temperature, but even after the race I still wished we had at least done the additional 10-mile lap the men got to do.
Other than the fact that I raced most of the race with goosebumps rather than sweat on my body, I dealt with the heat just fine. I hydrated well (I drank 4 bottles in warmup alone), fueled well and was really careful to back off the effort when I felt like I was nearing the danger zone. Backing off already powerless legs created a "you are going backwards feeling" for most of the day, but no other option seemed, well...like an option. It was one of those days where it was so hot you recognized how uncomfortable every little body part felt. I distinctly remembering that my earlobes were intolerably hot. Weird.
I think the funniest thing that happened on Thursday was when I was in the middle of the slowest pre-ride lap I have ever ridden at Sea Otter. I was poking along a section of singletrack with Nate and a man came riding up behind me and said "Cool, a Tomac!" He introduced himself as Joel, asked my name, we traded hellos and I let him go by. Later, I caught back up to him and he quickly identified himself as the owner of Tomac and said that Johhny Tomac was right behind us. COOL! It's not very often that you get to ride with the 2 guys responsible for creating and providing you with the nicest bike you have ever ridden in your life. Turns out they were in a booth next to us all weekend long and we had ample opportunity to chat, but finishing up my pre-ride lap with Joel was a great way to open the weekend.
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