Sea Otter Classic

Adam and I were married 11 years ago and we spent our honeymoon in Monterey, CA. Last weekend we went back to Monterey, but not to relax on the beach like we did back then. Instead, we went for the Sea Otter Classic. It is a pretty big cycling event (bigger than we had expected) with both road and mountain events.

My mom and I drove down with our bikes (thanks, Mom!) and Adam flew in the next day. We raced Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Adam and I both started with Criterium races...a timed race on a 1K course. It was either up or down with tight turns on either end. It was on the Laguna Seca Raceways, so the roads were smooth. Adam liked the tight turns, but they freaked me out!

Adam stayed with the pack the whole time.

I got dropped halfway, but stayed in the middle of the group...doing my own little time trial! This was me towards the end of the race...I started to get the hang of the turning, but it was too late to catch up to the lead group. Adam placed 7th and I placed 5th. The second day, Adam had a grueling 64 mile road race on a super hilly course while I had a 50 minute circuit race on a 2.2 mile course on the raceway. The corners got me again...I could keep up on the climbs and got passed going downhill. I really need to work on cornering! I placed 11th in this race...kind of a bummer, but that is okay.

The last day, Adam decided to enter the Grand Fondo instead of the circuit race. The Grand Fondo was a 96 mile ride with lots of climbing and beautiful scenery. He was able to ride with some really cool guys, including Gary, the CEO of Clif Bars. Gary actually helped Adam at one point, making it easier for him to finish the ride in 2nd place out of 300 riders!

I stuck with the original plan and did the road race. Adam was smart enough to not be completely honest with me about how hard the course was...oh my goodness! It was the hilliest course I have ever ridden. It was only 40 miles, but it was so hard!! At one point I thought that someone must have been pulling on my back wheel when I was going up one of the steep climbs. Wow! There is nothing like suffering on the bike with really tough girls. I rode most of the course with another racer and she was so strong...she pretty much let me draft off of her most of the time. I did my best to pull some, but she was a lot stronger than me. Racing is so different than just riding...I feel like I learn so much from the other riders and about myself.

We drove home Saturday and Sunday, taking our time and enjoying our time together. The weekend was so good for us...we love to push ourselves hard and we love to relax. It was a nice combination of the two, with the hard work making the relaxing so much better. I feel so lucky to have Adam as my husband, best-friend, teammate, and cheerleader. He is such a good man. It is so sweet to be in-love with someone like him!