Sea Otter Road Race-Masters B
Race: Sea Otter Road Race - Men’s B master 40+
Date: Friday, April 21st
AVRT racers: Hoss Hayati
Top Result: Hoss Hayati (10/15)
Course: 40 miles (4,000 ft elevation gain) including 5 x 7 mile loop with a steep 3-4min minute climb at the start of every lap, finishing on a 1.5 mile (9 minute) climb.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8933530415
Nutrition: Two bottles with mix of Nuun and 30 gr carb per bottle + 2 block shots
Race Report: I had crashed in the first race of this season (Pine Flat RR) and took me about two months to recover from physical and mental injuries. Decided to do this race only a few days before the race as I always love a challenging climbing race! My goal was to overcome the trauma from the last crash in the first race and hopefully finish with the pack.
The race started with a very fast pace on the first climb, out of the gate found myself doing deep VO2max/anaerobic on this 4 min steep climb. It was helpful to try to move from the back to front as it helped to feel more confident and in control. Once done with the first climb, the rest of the lap includes false flats, rollers, shorter punchy climbs and descents. The pack stayed together for the remainder of this lap. Still traumatized from all the gravel on roads during long winter season (caused my crash), I was very timid taking three sharp turns in the 2nd half of the lap. I noticed I was losing time and each time I found myself filling a gap to attach to the pack.
The second lap also started with an anaerobic effort on the first climb, it was even faster than the first lap. Barely managed to hang in but had to burn all remaining matches. The rest of this lap was painful and I finally got dropped on the last short bump before the descent. The rest of the race was uneventful for me as I tried my best for a decent TT effort, doing three laps solo to finish the race. Of significance was a junior racer (in a break) who decided to sit on my wheel. I told him multiple times that's probably illegal but he yelled to chill out as this is not a USAC event. I ignored him after a while but could not stop him from drafting.
This race felt hard, expectedly, it attracts some of the strongest riders in California and out of state including the notable climber Todd Markelz. The silver lining was I managed to finish my first race of this season without a crash. In addition, it was a beautiful day in Monterey hills, definitely worth a trip to Sea Otter!