Alison Dunlap
Approaching her 40th birthday in July, Alison Dunlap will be back for the 19th annual Sea Otter Classic. She hasn't competed in the even every year. It just seems like the the two-day Olympian has been riding her bike around the Monterey Peninsula forever.
The four-day festival encompassing recreational and professional cycling on roads and trails begins Thursday at Laguna Seca Recreation Area.
More than three years into retirement from a career that included 14 national titles in four cycling disciplines and four overall Sea Otter Classic titles, Dunlap will continue her coaching, clinics and ambassador roles at this year's event.
But the outgoing former world titlist who lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., with her husband Greg Frozley, has also decided to return to competition this fall in a series of professional cyclo cross races.
“I haven't made not succeeding an option,” said a chuckling Dunlap who first raced in the Sea Otter Classic in 1997. “I just fully expect myself to be back at the top. For whatever reason if it doesn't work out this year, I'll probably give it another year. If it doesn't pan out after two years of racing, then maybe I'll just back off.”
Although she hasn't competed at Sea Otter in recent years (and won't this year), Dunlap's popularity in cycling has prompted the successful charity component of her team, sponsored by LUNA.
For the past five years, the women's nutrition products manufactured by CLIF bar, has conducted an auction for a week's position with the team at Sea Otter Classic. The winner gets airfare to the event, meals, a bike, team apparel and is Dunlap's roommate. According to the team's web site, the auction has raised more than $70,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund.
Dunlap also conducts mountain adventure camps in Moab, Utah, clinics at mountain bike races around the country and coaches privately. She works and trains with her husband, but she was still seeking something “a little more exciting.” She missed the fun of competition.
Cyclo cross, a cycling hybrid, was the answer. It combines riding on hilly roads, through muddy and rutted terrain and over obstacles with athletes sometimes carrying their bikes. Races are held on enclosed circuits and usually last 30 minutes to one hour.
While still a niche sport in the United States, cyclo cross is immensely popular in Belgium and other European countries where a common thread prevails: The nastier the weather, the better the race.
“I think I can be competitive,” said Dunlap, a former six-time national cyclo cross titlist. “I'm just going to, you know, work like crazy and train like crazy to get to that level. But mentally I know how to race at that level. I know how to win bike races. I think physically getting the body to that point will be a lot of hard work. But I'm pretty confident I'll be up there duking it out for the win with all those girls.
“I just notice more aches and pains and mostly in my back. Nothing is really chronic. But things hurt more than they used to and the recovery time has increased. I can't go out and ride four days in a row and just take one or two recovery days and be ready to go again. It's one or two hard day in a row and then I have to take two or three recovery days before I feel good again. That's always frustrating because you remember what you used to be able to do. You can still ride with that intensity and just as hard as you used but your body just isn't as resilient.”
Continued in Part 2. Click here: Alison Dunlap profile
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