Race Report: Sea Otter Fuego XL M30s
Race: Sea Otter “Fuego XL”
Date: April 22, 2023
Category: M 30-39
Racers: Alex Rusoff (7th / 82), Shane McGuire
Every time I race Sea Otter the race gets longer and harder and this year it was 69 miles and 8500ft. The Fuego XL became part of the Lifetime Grand Prix series this year so most of the big hitters were out there racing (in the Pro categories).
This course, shared with the gravel event, really doesn’t call for a very gnarly bike. I was on my Blur TR which, although great, was total overkill. As far as nutrition I started with 2 bottles and grabbed a 2L hydro pack at the start of the 2nd lap. All bottles were ~60g carbs via skratch and malto mix. I had also prepped 2x gel flasks (5 gel-equivalents each) but really only needed one. It turned out I had plenty of carbs but maybe needed more salt.
The race started as all XC races do and by that I mean a 900w sprint off the line into a 400w 3 minute climb. We were semi mass started in that a few of the men’s age group categories started together. As a result it was never possible to tell what position I was in among my field (30-39). I now know from the results page that I was in 5th position at the first checkpoint, which meant my starting effort was about right.
The first hour was quite hard. I was doing 290w NP which was not going to be sustainable for 5 hours. The group I was riding in was making its way through the back of the pro women’s field who had started before us. By the end of the first lap my NP had dropped to 275w and I was still in 5th position but hurting.
When I stopped in the feedzone (half way) to grab my hydration pack my quads cramped up badly. I drank a ton of water hoping that would solve the cramps as it had the week prior at Lake Sonoma. I set off on lap 2 but it was pretty obvious that I was going to have to hold a dramatically lower power. I wasn’t sure if there was much merit to finishing the race but I also didn’t know what position I was in (I only know now, after the fact) so was curious how it would all play out.
My lap 2 pace was way off - only about 225w NP. I was kind of hoping that at some point I would start getting passed by a massive wave of riders and that would be my cue to call it a day but it didn’t really happen. A few of the pro women passed me, obviously having paced their effort much better than mine. Hopefully I don’t end up in a youtube video.
The interesting thing I came to find out at the end was that even though I had such a terrible second lap I only dropped from 5th to 7th. I’m not sure what the right takeaway is. It would have been satisfying to have consistency in power between first and second laps but on the other hand there is merit to staying up in the front group on an XC course where you can get slowed down by traffic in the single track. Truly one of those races where you are looking forward to the finish even before the whistle goes off.