Race Report: 2024 Sea Otter Classic Road Race - Men's B
Race: Sea Otter Classic Road Race - Men's B
Date: April 18, 2024
AVRT racers: Drew Matthews, Henry Mallon
Top Result: Henry 2nd (2/118 overall)
Course: 5 laps of a 7-mile loop with a steep 3-minute climb at the start of every lap. After lap 9 the course turns onto Barloy Canyon Road for a final 7-minute climb that steepens to 9% in the final half mile. The full race was about 40 miles with 4,000 ft of elevation gain.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11214013410
Nutrition: 1.5 bottles with 80g of Skratch in each bottle.
Race Recap: Written by Henry. With 118 people in the combined field, I knew positioning into the first climb would be critical. So, I used the first 7 minutes of neutral descending to move into the first 10 wheels. Once we turned onto the main climb, the moto ref pulled away, and… nothing happened. I didn’t want to descend for the first time with 100+ people or respond to everyone’s fresh attacks over the top, so I carried my momentum to the front and started riding at threshold. Halfway up the climb, another rider took over the pacesetting and by the top, the group was strung out and reduced to less than half.
This same basic pattern repeated for the rest of the race: 1) smash the 3-minute climb at VO2 max, 2) try unsuccessfully to get a small group to work together over the top, 3) a larger group of riders rejoin the front, and 4) repeat.
Given the possibility of a small group staying away, I spent extra energy on the climb each lap to be in the first few wheels over the top. However, we needed more cooperation to keep chasers behind, and a group of 10-20 made it back every lap but the last.
I wasn’t too worried about this dynamic because I knew any riders dropped on the 3-minute climb probably wouldn’t be a factor in the final 7-minute climb to the finish. Also, Drew was riding super strong and was always one of the first to make it back after the climb.
Just before the start of the final lap, our small lead group was caught by about 15 others, including Drew. When they made the catch, I got shuffled back and a rider named Daniel attacked. I was stuck in a position where I couldn’t follow, and no one else in the group responded.
He quickly got a 20-30 second gap before the base of the final 3-minute climb. I paced the climb hard and crested the top with 3 others on my wheel and about 10 seconds to the lone leader. I kept pulling over the top and then asked the others to rotate through, but they refused.
Once down the descent, two riders started helping while one mostly sat on the back. At first, this situation looked perfect—possibly the strongest climber was spending extra energy dangling only 10-20 seconds ahead of a (mostly) motivated chase group. It seemed like we would catch Daniel, and then he’d probably be tired for the final climb to the finish.
As we approached the end of the lap, cooperation completely ended in our group. I would guess Daniel’s advantage grew to about a minute going into the finishing climb.
After getting advice from Nico and Grant after the Men’s A race, I stayed patient for the first half of the climb where the gradients were more shallow. No one was setting a hard pace, and I knew we were likely losing more time to Daniel ahead. Fortunately, one rider attacked super hard out of our group with about 1 mile remaining. I tried to follow but couldn’t get across to his wheel. Now that it was steep, I was all in trying to close to the two solo riders ahead, with one guy still glued to my wheel.
By the 1-kilometer sign, I was finally gaining on the guy who had attacked and suddenly the leader was within sight. With 200m to go, everyone was coming together and 1st through 4th were all possibilities. In the final 50m, I held off the guy on my wheel, flew past second place, and missed catching the leader by about 5 seconds. Another 100m and Daniel likely would have been caught and passed by me and at least one other.
This race was a great example of how a handful of small decisions can determine the outcome of a race. For example, I think everyone in our chase group could have passed Daniel on the final climb if we had shared the work in the lower section. Also, if the other rider had waited 20 seconds to attack out of our group, he probably would have held me off and finished second.
Despite not catching Daniel, I think staying patient on the final climb was the right call. There was very little difference between any of us, and if I had paced the first half of the climb and caught Daniel, I’m sure the other two would have sprinted around me in the finish. To win, I probably would have needed a bit more power in the final few minutes, another rider to pace harder from the bottom of the climb, or the finish line moved 100m back :)
Thanks for reading!
Henry