Sea Otter Classic
Laguna Seca Rec Area
April 19-22, 2012

What started out 22 years ago as a mountain bike race with 350 participants, now features multiple mountain bike diciplines (cross country, short track cross country, dual slalom and downhill). Add this to road racing, crits, time trials, and cyclo-cross, it makes for a busy four days of cycling. And then there are exhibitions, demos and the one of the largest cycling expositions in North America. The Sea Otter Classic is home to more than 300 cycling vendors, showcasing the newest lines of bikes, wheels and other cycling gear and attire.

…Neither one of us was giving up. We traded the lead back and forth. Most of the middle of the race is a blur. .. I went down the long sandpit downhill in good form, actually riding it this time, where-as in my pre-ride i had been dabbing all the way.

At the bottom i passed my competitor. but again she caught me. I rode the treacherous rutted downhill sections-nearly crashing several times, but managing not to, and receiving a “nice save” from a male rider behind me.

At one point I realized that I seemed to no longer have the overwhelming vision of flying over the handle bars any more, I actually had to remind myself to ride more carefully! At the area of my demise on me pre-ride they had people stationed to warn riders to slow, a large orange line in the trail, and a medical crew just down the paved road!. I navigated it successfully this time.

Somewhere out here the first rider got away from me, then another rider caught me. I tried to stay with her, but ultimately couldn’t do it. There’s a nice shady singletrack section after the water point. In here I rode with all I had, wanting to catch up, passing slower riders. When I felt icky and like I might throw up I realized a was pretty much doing all I could at that time. Every area of fire road, and where ever I could i kept pushing. I couldn’t see the women in front of me, but I didn’t think they could be that far out. On the fire road at the end with less than 2 miles to go, I thought i saw one of them. I couldn’t catch up, but I certainly tried! Ultimately I finished third, 18 seconds behind the second place. But 2 minutes behind the winner!
– Lauren Liden
Women – Cat 2 – Masters – 50-99 – 3rd Place

There is a large group that moves off as the lap continues. I work to catch up with another guy in my group who also got dropped. Lap 5 I group up with two others and catch the one I was chasing along with some of the other riders from the other groups. Lap 6 and I attack hard up the climb with some accelerations. I cant shake the group but end up at the back trying to recover at the start of the descent. As we come into the final sprint I’m in the fourth slot. The rider in front of me goes and I follow. We go past the two at the front and I break Left to get by but the line comes to soon and I end up second in my little battle for the line.
– Robert Martinez
Mens Cat 4 Masters 45+ Circuit Race – 9th place