Sea Otter 2009!!

Sea otter was a blast! After Wednesday night’s race I came home and packed. Four days of sleeping in a tent, mountain biking and looking at cool bike parts was ahead of me. Rich, Hopkins, Evan and I left the next morning with two cars packed to the brim. The drive is long, but now where near as long as some of the people coming to the race. We got there and the tone was set. This race/expo is confusing and nobody knows anything beyond there little volunteer responsibility. Oh well, it made it comical not frustrating. Hopkins signed up for the Cat 5 road race and circuit race, I signed up for the cat 2 XC race. We got resisted for races and our camp site circled back around the Laguna Seca race track. (Yes the one with the “Corkscrew”) and found out or campsite was a RV parking spot that was smaller than we imagined. No worries we had brought 

big tents and double up occupancy. This is where I endorse the REI Base Camp 6, tall enough to stand in and big enough to fit two World War II era cots with a camp table between them. The nights were cold and windy, and the days hot to super hot. I learned how to better pack for next year. Down Jackets are a must. The first night we ate our dinner in our tent. 

On Friday I pre-rode the XC course. It is a good 19 miles course, filled with fun single track, sandy descents, some long climbs and a short steep one. Friday was also Hopkins’ road race. Rich, Evan, and I decided to go on a leisurely mtb ride and come back and watch Hopkins finish. Instead we got lost and pretty rode the course. We did bring some Coors Lights and cheered on some Beginner racers that were competing. That was fun. It definitely sucked that I put in 40 miles of mtb riding the day before my race though. 

My XC race was Saturday at 8am; Hopkins’ Circuit race was immediately after my start. We woke up to fog and cold. I put on a long sleeve base layer, ate half a bagel and a banana and rode to the start. Warming up on the race track was drenching us the fog was so thick. My race group went off at 8:20am. I had shed my base layer before the start. The GT Golden Bike 

Cheerleaders gave us some inspiration and we were off! These guys were fast! We had two crashes in the first mile and a half. I keep within the top ten for the first four or five miles when on a bumpy decent my chain fell off to the outside. When I pedaled it back on the chain twisted and would no longer go through the gears. Rendering the bike impossible to pedal. I walked the nearest aid station, but they had no chain tool. I don’t generally carry one for races. If your chain breaks you not going to win, but I was a long way from the finish line and I want to ride back. I took their leatherman tools and bent back my chain knowing it was a matter of time till it broke. When it did I walked along the trail asking for a chain tool. Lucky for me someone gave me one and then went back to racing. This is where I don’t endorse Shimano chains. Reusing old pins is a nightmare, with SRAM I can just carry a powerlink and trust it. With my chain I took out the twisted section, and re-pushed in a chain pin to put it back together. My chain broke two more times after that. So for the last 8 miles or so I had limited gearing, but I was riding and smiling. I crossed the finish line riding hard and still didn’t take last place! 

Hopkins tired from his race came back to the camp site at the same time. We watched Levi and the pro circuit race. Then we wondered the expo with checking out all the new stuff. Being a gear head that was half the fun. We went into town that night and celebrated and watched the UFC fight. Monday morning we went to the beach at Carmel and then drove home. It was a good time and next year I will be better prepared, and will do more races. It was good to see GT represented all over that race and meet some pro riders and some fellow Dirt Coalition riders.