Sea Otter Classic-Women's race report by Jenna kowalski

Sea Otter Classic April 15-17, 2010
Women’s P1/2 RR, April 16, 2010
By Jenna ‘Jammer’ Kowalski
It was a beautiful day; a cloudless sky, warming temperatures and a calm breeze. Lauren, Julia and I departed our fabulous host house in the hills south of HWY 68, leaving behind our desires to bounce on the trampoline and ride circles in the pasture on a Go-Kart, to head for the famous Laguna Seca raceway…
We started off the morning with a grueling warm-up climb up the main entrance to the raceway, a taste of what was to come for later in the day, and began race preparations for our 12:08 start (find Kurt, get bottles/GU, go to the bathroom 5 times, etc). Lining up under the Bridgestone Banner (I think that’s what it was?) we secured spots at the front of the 40+ rider field until about 15 of the 30 professional women were called up to the line. After a quick briefing we set off, trailing the lead moto off of the track and into the hills of Fort Ord for a neutral start. I don’t know who the start was neutral for, considering I was riding in Zone 4 after about 2 minutes.
After a long winding downhill – which we would later climb into the finish, we made a left and then the right turn up the feed zone climb, where the real racing began. The race consisted of 6 laps around an 8.5 mile rolling circuit in Fort Ord, featuring a 900 ft climb through the feed zone with areas as steep as 13%. The climb was just enough to start shaking us off the back of the pack on the first lap. Lauren and I dug deep to maintain contact on the downhill, and kept position in the group until lap two, where the brutal gradient got the best of us.
The next two laps found me chasing down the group with riders from Touchstone and InCycle, while sharing war stories with Kit. On lap 4 I caught another rider from InCycle, and was soon after blessed with the company of teammate Lauren. We finished our final 2 laps on the circuit with empty offers of Bloody Mary’s and Margaritas from the neutral feeders. And with only small change left in our pockets, we made our way up the final climb to the long-awaited finish.
Although the majority of my race was off the back of the finishing peleton, I am happy to say that I finished the day with a crooked smile on my face and pocketful of experience. And while our season may be marked with ‘growing pains,’ we look forward to the many challenging races ahead, which will ultimately lead to our success in the future.
Many thanks to the NOW-MS Society for all of your unwavering support!!!