Sea Otter day 3

Sometimes you don’t need to be in an exotic country at some crazy multi-day race to find  an “epic adventure”.  Sometimes the most memorable soul searching races are found where least expected. 

The Sea Otter Classic held at the Lugana  Seca Raceway in Monterey, California is quite possibly the most civilized venue and race course we will see all year. The terrain is mild and provides very little technical challenge and the weather is generally cool and overcast, as one would expect for April in Northern California.

This year, race day arrived right along with some serious summer like tempertures. Afternoon high’s peaked out at an all time record of 96 degrees and proceeded to decimate the Pro fields.

Did the Monavie-Cannondale crew survive?

-Jeremiah Bishop  got the hole shot and lead the first 7 miles of the race. He showed his hand early and put it all on the table for the win. The heat was to much and with a cold wet Virgina home base his acclimatization was less then ideal. He soldiered on for 7th out of  150. Impressive!

-Burke Swindlehurst races full time on the road for the  Bissel pro road team and part time on the dirt for the Monavie-Cannondale squad.  After racing 3 hard days on the road where his team won 2 stages and Burke spent 25 miles off the front solo in the road race, Burke lined up for a “4th stage” in the Pro men’s cross country.  Burke undisputably takes the ”Iron Otter” award as he not only competed in all the events but started the XC in 148th position and  passed 127 guys to finish 21st. Not bad for his 1st MTB race in 3 years.

-Bryan Alders put together a smart race way beyond his years and expereince. Smooth sustained effort just below the level  of overheating to finish a very solid 33rd out of 150 of the top mountain bike racers on the planet. Congratulations man!

-Bart Gillespie was ski touring the cold powder of the Wasatch just the week before and was by no means ready for the oppressive heat of the day. After wrenching on bikes right up to the start he found himself moving up towards the top 20 in the 1st part of the race before “the lights went out”. Things got desperate after that and it was pure survival including stops in the shade and finding bottles in the bushes. He drug himself to the finish line in 54th out of 148.

-Alex Grant had a similar fate and after 20 minutes of solid racing found himself in the serious “heat locker”. Nausea, chills, double vision, and halucinations are all signs of heat stroke and were experienced by AG for the next 2 hours as he was determined to finish.  Surely he stockpiled some mental fortitude today!

-Ben Sontagg was well into the top ten early in the race. And then…(German accent)  ”You know, sometimes, when you can’t remember anything, and then  you wake up in the bushes”. Ben passed out from the heat but fortunately was not hurt and was able to get himself  back to civilization safely. “Oh well, s–t happens!”

-Mitchell Peterson’s big red mop was not designed for un-acclimated heat racing.  He found himself in a similar fate as Ben with some unconscious time on the side of the trail and the rest of the afternoon at medical for an IV. He will be back to race another day.

-Tinker Juarez, because of his legend status lined up on the front row  right next to the world champion. He follwed the leaders until the linguring fatigue of the Cape Epic caught up with him. Surely Tinker had the most cheers on course, the life of a legend!

-Sue Butler the lone female XC racer on the squad survived the transition from the frozen Cyclocross Worlds in February to the death valley style heat of Sea Otter to finish 16th.

Stay tuned for the Sea Otter wrap up, we handed out a lot of the acai juice…