The last climb up WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca’s iconic corkscrew is always the worst.
After three laps and nearly 90 miles of mountainous terrain, a bicyclist’s body starts to break down. Leg cramps are common as exhaustion sets in, with adrenaline becoming the only source of energy for the riders, knowing the finish line is in sight.
It’s the decisive moment, as was the case again for Keegan Swenson.
The Utah athlete earned his fourth straight Life Time Sea Otter Classic victory in the first race of the Life Time Grand Prix gravel series on Thursday, April 10.
With Matt Beers of South Africa hot on his heels coming into the corkscrew, Swenson began creating some separation between his good friend and training partner as the hill steepened. At the top of the hill, Swenson didn’t let off the gas, pedaling downhill on Laguna Seca’s sweeping Turn 6 at speeds of nearly 40 mph, glancing over his shoulder to keep tabs on Beers’ location.
Beers wasn’t within eyesight, and Swenson finished nine seconds ahead.
“Every lap we got separated, then back together, but the group got smaller and smaller,” Swenson said in a post-race interview. “I knew that last lap was going to be the deciding factor. I was just trying to play the cards right.”
“Playing the cards right” meant conserving energy throughout the first two-plus laps as he nursed a sore back. Swenson hung around with the leaders for most of the race but was mindful of his body, knowing the third time on the corkscrew was where the race was going to be decided.
“I gave it everything I had on that last climb,” he said. “The back felt good today. That’s why I was a little bit conservative, not pushing too hard too early. I didn’t want to go out and blow myself up.”
For the women’s race, the opposite happened.
The last hill wasn’t decisive—Haley Batten of Utah was nearly six minutes ahead of the second and third place riders due to her getting out to a sprint early.
It caught up to her on that last lap, she said.
“I just pushed really hard,” said Batten, who knocked off two-time defending Sea Otter Classic champion Sofia Gomez Villafane, who finished second. “The last lap, I regretted my decision. I barely made it up that last climb.”
Batten, who still had the energy to pedal standing up on the final climb, said she was “deeply in pain.”
“I’m not scared of suffering,” she said. “I think that’s why I went so early. I embraced that today.”