sea slaughter preride

This last Saturday, JRM and I made the trip down to Laguna Seca near Salinas. We met up with Sparky, Michael and Winona (aka Crazy Cat Lady) in the Laguna Seca parking lot. Winona was a local, but moved to the UK last year. She was back in the neighborhood to visit friends and family or something. While here, she was kind enough to meet up with us for a ride.

I have been debating the upcoming Sea Otter Classic race. I have been racing geared class in previous years. The last two years, I have been racing Sport class. Last year, I got smoked. I mean really smoked. Packed into a bowl in a cinder block walled dorm room while pirated mp3s of Dark Side of the Moon play, and smoked…. and then drank the bong water. I came in something like 95th out of 125 racers, or something embarrassingly bad like that, and that was without the excuse of a crash or mechanical.

The good news is I learned the course (at least last year’s course, this upcoming year’s race course is not finalized yet) is very ridable on the singlespeed. I ran a 32*20 gear ratio on a 29″ wheel, and it was a good balance of being able to get up most of the climbs, and still be tall enough to spin the flats. There were a few climbs I had trouble grinding up, but I don’t think an added tooth or two in the back would be enough to help.

The newer Sea Otter course goes up the back of the Three Bitches, reversed from the older course. In that direction the first bitch is so painfully steep I can hardly get up it without the crutch a super low granny gear. No worries. I’ll just hammer up as far as I can get, get off, hoof and run. There was one other climb after the sandy downhil that required some footy time.

My moving time was around 2:15 without really going race pace. That was not including some rest breaks, one instance of getting lost, and cutting out a short section that was not marked well on the map. In contrast, my finishing time last year was around 2:15 using gears. Total ride time was around 3:30.

No mechanicals on the trail, no crashes or injuries. One rider was bonking a bit, but other than that, it was a perfect ride.