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Sea Otter Classic

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WOW! What an amazing two and a half weeks we have had! Earlier this week we drove back from our adventures at The Sea Otter Classic and The Whiskey Off-Road, two of the biggest off-road cycling events in the nation. I had taken a laptop with me so that I could blog, (thank you Taylor!), but I was so busy taking in every moment of our trip that I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and write. So here it is…Part One of the Adventures of Team Uranga!Roman Strength

Two weeks ago from Friday was Carlos’ race at Sea Otter. After our pre-ride of the course we knew that this wasn’t just any XC race. This was practically a marathon for him, and despite not being at a high altitude, it was like a marathon in the mountains with all the climbing! Maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it sure felt like it to us flat landers! The course was one ginormous 22 mile loop with fast and flowy singletrack and lots and lots of jeep road. He started his race with the mentality that he was going to have to really pace himself in order to finish the grueling 44 miles.

Sea Otter number plateThe event is sponsored Carlos Sea Otterby Volkswagen, so the entire four days we were there we got VIP parking right next to the entrance since we were in our pretty little Jetta! It was awesome!! So we got there early that Friday to catch the end of the short track race. It looked brutal with a huge sand/gravel pit that was probably around 75 meters long. Afterward Carlos suited up and spun his legs for a little bit. When it was time to line up it was so cool because the start was on the actual Laguna SecaCarlos Sea Otter Start racecourse.    Before I knew it they were off and I was left to hang out and chill for the next few hours figuring out the best way to get to the feed zone. There was one at the end of his first lap, and then another half way through the course. Carlos came out of his first lap and when I asked him how he was doing he said, “not good!” But he kept on going. Uh oh! I asked the course marshal how to get to the second feed and the only way was to descend 4 miles down a jeep road. I went back and forth in my head if I should go or not. My race was the next day and I knew it wouldn’t be very wise to climb four miles the day before to get back out of there. I felt so bad and just prayed that he would be okay, knowing there was plenty of water and nutrition out there.

I waited and waited till his head finally popped out over the hill to the finish. Carlos Sea Otter FinishI was screaming and yelling, “Good job Baby! You’re awesome!” And then as he came down he slowed to tell me, “I didn’t finish, but that was so much fun!!!” He let the officials know that he had DNF and rolled down to the car. So he was already feeling signs of cramping in his first lap and knew the second lap wasn’t looking very promising. The climbs in the first fifteen miles are a tiny bit shorter than the long climbs in the end, and also a little more punchy. His legs really locked up when he was around mile 30 and when he got to the feed zone in the middle he decided to take that four mile jeep road back out. Murphy’s law right? The only way to get out was uphill! Yikes!

He was so excited afterward! Although he didn’t finish the entire race, he had so much fun with the guys he was racing with, the trail was super flowy, and everywhere you looked it was soooo pretty! It was the perfect training ride that we couldn’t have gotten back at home!

My race was Saturday at noon and the field was STACKED! Not like it isn’t always stacked at this level, but this time there were 43 women and from all around the WORLD! Several whom are Olympic medalists, National lisa sea otter startChampions of not only the U.S., but also their respective countries, in all sorts of disciplines of cycling from cross-country to cyclocross to track. I knew the course was tough, the competition was STEEP, and it was going to be an experience of a lifetime…and it was!! I had a good start and stayed smack in the middle of the group throughout the track where I didn’t have to work very hard. Once we hit the dirt I stayed about mid pack and got to ride with Rebecca Rusch for the first handful of miles. That was pretty cool! Carlos was waiting for me From my pre-ride to race day my descending was a little better, but these girls were just bombing it down! I then realized that without having the longer climbs back home like there were here, you don’t really have the same Lisa sea otter finishopportunity to practice descending, which was appearing to be one of my limiters. I did the best I could while keeping the rubber side down and was so excited to clear a super rutted out descent that I had trouble with earlier that week! I was also so happy to make it down dirty unibrowthis one descent that was pretty steep and the entire way down was about a foot deep in super fine SAND! That thing was tricky! As the race went on, and the climbs got longer I just couldn’t keep the pace. I dropped back a few spots and finished in 35th. As I rolled through Emily Batty was there and she gave me a big, “Good Job!” All I could tell her was, “You girls are amazing!” I was happy to have finished, happy to be in one piece, and happy to know that we can only go up from here!

The next morning we set out to our next adventure in Arizona, The Whiskey Off-Road. We figured, why not take the scenic route and drive down Highway 1?!? Life’s too short not to squeeze everything out of it! It was so beautiful!! No regrets there. That was a looooong day of driving and Carlos did ALL OF IT! I’m starting to really believe that he thinks I’m a really bad driver, or he just doesn’t trust me with the bikes in the back. Haha! But whatever the reason may be, I’ll just stick with, it’s because he loves me THAT MUCH! 🙂

Highway 1 Lisa Gorda We arrived in Sedona, AZ around midnight and we were both pooped! We checked into our room at the Sedona Summit where we would be staying for the week, complements of Steven and Deborah!!!! We couldn’t say THANK YOU enough!!! Our room was so nice with everything we could possible need or want on our last week away from home, with a full kitchen and a jacuzzi right around the corner that had a beautiful view of the canyon! Finally, a whole week in a quiet town with nowhere to go and miles of singletrack to explore…Carlos Sedona Bed

We’re goin’ XC to race XC!

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It’s been awhile since I’ve written, and since my last post we raced out in Glen Rose, TX for the Solavaca Cat Claw Classic. We decided to head out early and make a long weekend of camping with perfect weather and enjoy the quiet time together. It was so much fun to camp again and to enjoy the evenings with teammates and friends!
There were only four of us in the women’s field and the trail was perfectly tacky. As we took off Cindy led us into singletrack and she was really keeping the pace up! About midway through that first lap I attacked on a flat and made the pass. I felt great and ended up riding solo the rest of the race, finishing in 1st! Carlos had a pretty good start going in about mid pack. He stayed steady and was able to move up little by little. He finished up in 7th place!!! It was a great day of racing and we couldn’t have asked for better conditions, the trail was just perfect!
Monday Carlos and I set out on our journey to Monterrey, CA for the infamous Sea Otter Classic! Our first stop was in El Paso to visit our beautiful Grandmother. Visiting with her is always inspiring! We also dropped off Plopper with my sister so he could have some playtime with her five wonderful kids!
Tuesday we drove from dawn till dusk for a total of sixteen hours and stopped for the night in Bakersfield, CA. It felt good to stretch out and recharge! Wednesday we continued our drive up to Marina, where we are staying for the next four days. The drive was absolutely amazing! Neither Carlos nor I had any idea how gorgeous the terrain was going to be! The land is so fertile and there were miles and miles of vineyards, pecan trees, colorful flowers, you name it! We finally arrived at our hotel and got ready to go ride.
Wow! Driving up to the venue was nuts! It is so big! Every single part of the cycling industry is represented with banners, tents, and vans. This is unlike any other race I have ever been to. So we suited up and followed the signs to the xc course. We ended up going in circles trying to find the start of the 22 mile trail and bumped into World Cup Champion, Catharine Pendrel! She was so nice and gave us a tour of the entire course, shared some riding tips, and even helped me with one of the technical descents. Now that’s what I call the ultimate Sea Otter experience! The trail is unlike any other I’ve raced in Texas. The majority of it is jeep road and double track and there is ONE root and NO rocks on the whole trail. The scenery is so beautiful that it’s almost hard to concentrate! There’s over 3,000ft of climbing in one lap and the climbs are much longer than we’re used to. This one’s going to hurt so good!! Carlos has the wonderful pleasure of racing two laps…can we say suffer fest?!? Yikes! Like I said, hurt so good!!
We’re off to check out the races, meet new people, and soak in the atmosphere! I’m not too familiar with the computer I’m on so we’ll be posting up pics on Facebook and Twitter. Come check us out at http://www.facebook.com/teamuranga and make sure to LIKE us while you’re there!

Mellow Johnny’s Classic…You live. You learn. You race!

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I am absolutely overwhelmed by this past weekend racing at the Mellow Johnny’s Classic. I can not even fully describe how special it is to have so many friends, family, fellow racers and riders, and of course my amazing husband to support me, cheer for me, encourage me, and put a smile on my face around every corner of the trail. I didn’t quite get the result I was looking for, but it’s always a great experience to race the best of the best.

I know I haven’t written in a while, it’s been a mentally and physically challenging past three weeks. I must have superhuman competitors because racing every weekend without a break can really knock the sails out from someone, and I didn’t even do the 6 hr endurance race and short track that some of them did at Waco a few weeks ago.

The weekend after Waco we raced out in Comfort. Last year and this year I have concluded that this particular weekend always feels like one of the longest weekends of the year for me. Friday we pre-rode the entire 27 mile loop out at Flat Rock Ranch. Saturday we took advantage of the Mellow Johnny’s course out at Flat Creek Ranch being open for pre-ride and rode three laps out there. I had been on the fence all week about racing Sunday and I went ahead and signed up anyway. I knew that riding the rocky terrain would help me brush up on my technical skills rather than spectating.

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We were so fortunate to have friends with family who live only about fifteen minutes east of Flat Creek and were nice enough to provide us with beautiful and cozy hospitality. The view was amazing and the area was so quiet and peaceful. That, along with the weather and good company made for a perfect race weekend!

Carlos and I were both racing at the same time but each of our races headed out in different directions on the course. Silly me had ridden the whole course Friday EXCEPT my start loop. Oops! So when the whistle blew we sprinted up a hill and next thing I knew I heard a loud crash just behind me to my right. Jennifer Taylor had been on my right so I knew she had probably gone down, but I didn’t want to look back and cause a wreck myself. So I focused on Jessica who was in front of me so I could see where the start loop was taking us. The first nine miles of the race are pretty rocky and last year was the first time I had to race the complete upper loop. I remember not being able to clear several of the obstacles last year and this year I was happy to be riding a larger portion of the tricky rocks. All in all I had a decent race. My goal had been to work on my technical skills and that I did! I finished in third place, Carlos finished twelfth, and we both went home with tired legs.

We are so blessed to have such a flexible job with some pretty awesome clients and were able to start our weekend off early Thursday and head back to Dripping Springs to hit up another pre-ride at Mellow Johnny’s. The course was flowing better and better. Friday afternoon I got in one more lap. The course felt much different from the day before. You could tell that there was more traffic on the trail, rocks were being thrown around, and lines were getting sloppy. I went over my bars on a loose decent and of course I had to land on the same knee that I injured on my Rockyhill pre-ride. It wasn’t that bad, just a little insult to injury…literally. You know they always say, “A bad pre-ride is a great race.” I just kept repeating that to myself for the rest of the ride. That evening we kicked up our feet and I iced my knee.

Saturday morning was a little chilly. We parked near the top of the newly famous STRAVA climb and Carlos set up my trainer and road bike next to the truck. The Cat 3’s were racing right before us so we got to heckle our friend Lisa and all the others suffering up the climb before I had to get ready for my own race. While warming up it was great to see teammates and friends pass by and wish me luck. I headed down to the start line for 11:30 call ups. I was really excited to see other girls from Texas step up to a race of this caliber. Like I said in a previous post, the talent in Texas is pretty unbelievable! There were three Texas girls on the line and almost a fourth! Unfortunately Melanie Etherton, who would have been number four, had an injury the day before in her pre-ride and she was unable to race. We missed her on the starting line!

The anticipation and hard training from the previous weeks and months was all for this first big race of the year. When the gun went off I took the line on the right and fought through the clouds of dust. Apparently I was a little too far right because I got smacked in the face with a branch…that’s always fun! I was about mid pack before the last right hand turn on the start loop before hitting the road again, when my cleat popped right out of my pedal. AH! I was in such a heavy gear that I almost couldn’t even keep pedaling without being clipped in. As I struggled to catch my pedal again I felt several bikes fly by. NOOOO!! I entered single track near the end of the pack skidding, and flying through the corner out of control. Finally I settled in and calmed myself down. This is not really the type of trail you want to ride over your head, even if it’s to move up a few spots. Crashing wouldn’t have gotten me very far. Up the climbs and in the open spots I was feeling strong. I was able to reel a few girls in and make some passes.

The rest of the race I yo-yoed back and forth with Rebecca Gross who was right in front of me. The crowd was incredible and poor thing was probably so sick of hearing, “GO Lisa!” There was no sneaking up on her! After the race we talked and when I told her I was the one right behind her she said, “You must be Lisa.”

It was a great race, a total learning experience in so many ways, and only 47 seconds away from my Top 10 goal! So after the race I decided to cash in my chips, walk away a winner (in my book at least), and be thankful I was still in one piece. Carlos was racing the next day and I wanted to be all about him! He’s so awesome at taking care of me and being my support system that I couldn’t wait to do that for him. So I set up his trainer and got his bottles and race nutrition ready. His field was pretty large with close to forty guys. The start was super dusty, but thanks to his Oakley Windjackets he was able to see, as opposed to previous years when all the dust got in his contacts! He had a strong, clean race and had a ton of fun! The way that he described his race was, “he had a bad start with a good end result.” He’s always said, “if you race from the back, you will not finish in the front.” I think we both proved that this weekend!

You live. You learn. You race. 🙂

A little over six weeks away and we’ll be in beautiful Monterey, CA for the Sea Otter Classic! Can’t wait!

We would like to thank our AMAZING sponsors, Comedy Defensive Driving, for the generous hospitality, financial support, and promoting safe driving as we train on the road!

Elete Electrolytes for knowing exactly what our bodies need to stay hydrated for ultimate performance!

ESI Grips for your superior comfort and ultra light weight technology…did we mention how bling our bikes look?!?

Honey Stinger for on and off the bike top of the line organic fuel!

Roman Strength for our super sturdy plyometric boxes and equipment for our functional training!

Plano Cycling and Fitness for the best bike maintenance and always keeping us rolling!

We couldn’t do all this without these guys so make sure and support those who support us!