Sea Otter 2010

The Cat 1 Sea Otter MTB race confirmed that I am out of shape. I had a bunch of excuses...sick the weekend before, bad weather in Colorado, no sleep, etc., but I naively thought it was possible to do OK at Sea Otter...heck it was at sea level. I knew it would be tough, but the 38 miles and 5100ft of climbing was worse for me than expected. I made it thru the first lap in exactly 1.5 hours. Pro Feedback racer Kat Statman handed me a new water bottle at the feed zone and I thought, "this isn't bad, 3 hours total would be respectable". Then about 20 minutes into Lap 2, I starting feeling little signs of cracking....slight spasms in the legs and my power dropping. I fueled up at the halfway point of the last lap with 2 gels and some water, but this didn't seem to help because shortly after, I really slowed down. It turned into a battle just to finish. After completing the long final climb that ends at what I thought was the finish area, I was physically and mentally done. What I didn't know was the cruel fact that we had another 15 to 20 minutes of up and down to ride on the Pro XC course. I was barely moving at this point, but managed to finish after 3:33 on the course. (32nd/48). They were already giving out awards and annoucing "Mike Hogan in 3rd Place" as I came across the finish line

On the positve side, the weather was perfect and the course was great. Lots of 5-10 minute climbs and steep decents thru a good combination of fire roads and single track. Much better than the Pro XC course which was at least 1/4 pavement.

The whole Sea Otter event was a blast. Feedback Sports had an expo space in the team area and people were coming by the whole time to check out our products and talk. Todd and Rusty (Organic Mechanic crew) were in the Feedback pit area helping people with their bikes. It was definitely worth attending and I plan to be back next year...in better shape.