Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Circuit Race - Elite/A Women
Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Circuit Race - Elite/A Women’s
Race: Sea Otter Circuit Race - Women’s Elite
Date: April 20th, 2024
AVRT racers: Ari Fischer (Pascarella)
Top Result: 9th
Course: Buttery smooth pavement on the infamous Laguna Seca Raceway featuring the thrilling “corkscrew” and a grinding climb. 2.3 miles of twisting track for multiple laps of grit and speed.
Strava: https://strava.app.link/UyRD1hA6iKb
Nutrition: Pre-race bottle of SiS drink mix, SiS flavor Apple on the line, during race half bottle of SiS drink mix.
I rolled into this race with excitement and nerve fueled adrenaline. This would be my first race of the season after a busy start of the year traveling to Africa and then back just in time to get married (woo hoo!), so I came into this one with realistic expectations and eager to have some fun on a slippery smooth track.
In the starting corral, I cheered on fellow Alto, Velo team mates, and saw an impressive finish by Louise. I smiled and made small talk with some intimidating, fast ladies whom I’d stalked shamelessly online the night before, sizing up my competition. I again reminded myself of the serious competition, both local and international, some of these women have achieved so far this year and remind myself to focus on my personal goals: racing smart, keeping it rubber side down, sticking to the nutrition, and having fun!
The race was underway and I got to remember what that feeling of being redlined, breathing through a straw-feeling is like as we ripped up the first climb. My approach the first several laps was to get to the front of the group early on the climbs so that when I inevitably got swarmed, I could still be mid pack by the time we reached the top and started the descent. This approach worked well… at first. Then Chloe on Monarch Racing team attacked hard midway up the climb. It was everything I could do to hang on and then when she did it again on the next lap the group was severed.
There were some words of encouragement between myself and Hannah on Super Spinkles as well as a few other riders as we work together and rotated, trying to close it down to the main group. With a few laps to go, and some encouraging wooing from the sidelines, I catapulted ahead and almost shut it down only for the women in front of me to look back and give another dig up the climb, driving the pace harder, and shutting down my attempt.
I retreated back to my pack that had been rotating together well and decided I’d settled for a bit of friendly competition among our group as we narrowed towards the end of a final lap. I skipped my last few rotations, and as soon as the other ladies started to jump for the final sprint, I snuck into their slipstream before really opening it up and letting it fly to see what the legs had left. I enjoyed a cheeky field sprint finish for ninth.
Lots of smiles and laughs afterwards, beers and exploring the expo, and a fun time spectating for the rest of the weekend. It was the perfect way to kick off racing for 2024 after an exciting start to the year.