Sea Otter Classic 2024 - Laguna Seca Circuit Race - Mens C & D (Cat4/Novice) full race

Condensed version (20 min) with commentary here:    • Sea Otter 2024 - Laguna Seca Circuit Race,...  

Beautiful day to ride bikes at Sea Otter today, awesome vibes and amazing to be able to race on Laguna Seca. Me and my buddy Craig went down for the day to experience our first bike race together and had a blast. I finished 67 out of 229 today in the massive combined field of Mens C/D (equivalent to Cat4/Novice) and Collegiate C/D. That hill after Turn 6 is killer (hits a max of 12%), but the thrill of flying down the corkscrew more than made up for it. 10/10 highly recommend this race and the overall event, especially for new/inexperienced racers like me.

For data overlay context: my ftp is just around 3.4 W/kg (245W), and my one minute power is a bit over 7 W/kg. My max HR is just under 200 bpm. In my opinion, this course favors puncheurs who can do a bit of everything but excel at short punchy climbs. The pure climbers would accelerate on the climb, but inevitably get caught by the sprinty boys on the subsequent descent and back straight. For training, including one minute Z6 (anaerobic) intervals were beneficial for me in the weeks leading up to the event, e.g. 5x 60sec @ 160% ftp.

This course loves to blow groups apart on the climb, so you will see lots of 1's and 2's strung out across the course. In my opinion, the key to conserving energy is to be on it close to someone's wheel at the crest of the climb, so you won't be eating wind when it gets fast on the back straight and the subsequent first several turns.