2003 Sea Otter Classic
Monterey, CA
April 10-13, 2003

Hi everyone,

I've been a little slow in getting out the play by play from the Sea Otter Stage Race. Things got hectic because I just ran my first Alison Dunlap Adventure Camp in Moab this week. It went really well, but it seemed like everything else was put on hold in order to get these camps going.

So now, two weeks later, I'm finally getting around to writing about Sea Otter. Sorry for the delay.

Anyways...The Sea Otter Classic was a month later than last year. I thought we'd have better weather but alas, we had as much rain, wind, and cold as always. The first stage was the time trial on Thursday. My legs were still tired from the arse whooping they'd received at Redlands only three days earlier. It was a gorgeous day which helped make up for the 6am wake-up call. We were on our bikes around 7:15am to ride out to the course. I was the last one off in the time trial since I was the defending champion from last year. The time trial didn't go so well. My legs were tired and I was on a new bike. The combination of the two led to sloppy out of control descending and lethargic painful climbing. Not what I had hoped for. I crossed the finish line and didn't hear anything from the announcer. That only meant one thing. There wasn't anything worth announcing about my ride. Ouch. I finished in 12th place. I tucked my tail between my legs and limped home.

The next day was the dreaded fat boy criterium. This event is a timed 50 minute criterium on pavement on our mtn bikes with slick tires. Sounds harmless? A lot of pro mountain bikers have never raced on the road. That makes for dangerous chaos. There was a bad crash that took out my teammate Shonny Vanlandingham. She ended up with a broken collarbone. I rode either at the very front in the wind, or at the back to stay out of trouble. It was total luck that I stayed upright. The finish line was 200 meters after the last turn so it was going to be a drag race to the last turn. And there was a tail wind down the back stretch. I can't believe my legs could spin that fast! Somehow I made it to the last turn at the head of the pack and sprinted for the win. Yippie! After a short celebration we picked up Shonny from the hospital and drove home. A bittersweet day.

The third stage was a dirt criterium. Ahhh, back in the dirt. It was only a twenty-five minute event. They changed the course and made it much shorter with only a small amount of climbing. It was like a true short track. Much better for me. Sue Haywood set a wicked pace that split the field within two laps. My teammate Katerina Hanusova had a great start and was riding right in front of me. It was great to have a teammate up front. We worked together and Melanie McQuaid was the only rider that stayed with us. By the last lap I dropped her and rode in alone for the victory! I got another time bonus that put me into the overall lead. Yeehah! My legs were finally coming around.

The final day was the biggie. The thirty-two mile cross country event. The day before it rained most of the afternoon and all night turning the course into a mucky mess. Luckily we didn't race until 1pm. By then the course was dry and super fast. The race started at warp speed as always and within ten minutes I found myself following the wheel of Barbara Blatter from Switzerland. She is a tremendous climber and was only thirty seconds behind me in the overall, so I knew I absolutely had to stay with her. She and I rode together the entire race. I worked with her the first lap and then sat on the entire last lap. Coming into the finish I told her I wasn't going to sprint her for the win. All I wanted was the overall and it would have been bad karma to sit on her all day and then sprint her for the win. So she won the cross country stage and I won the overall for the third time. Yeehah!

So the weekend was a success. Maybe next year I won't dig myself into such a hole on the first day and then I won't have to work so hard making a big comeback. It was a good two weeks of racing and my legs were thoroughly tired.

The next big race is our first Norba National in Big Bear.

Until then....Stay safe and healthy.

Cheers,
Alison