Sea Otter Redemption

   For one reason or another, the Sea Otter Classic downhill has been my nemesis for the past two years, but it seemed like this time could be different because I had already been riding bikes and racing for a couple of months.  Having an awesome team and sponsors for support made things so much easier too--thank you LBC and everyone else for making it the best Sea Otter experience I've had so far!  And thank you to my boyfriend Kit for letting me borrow both the van to camp in and your bike for the DH!

   I registered for the dual slalom as well as DH just for fun, not having raced a DS since collegiate nationals in 2008.  Lindsay found me a bike to borrow from Bicycle Fabrications, which was totally fun to ride, and its owner Brian even volunteered to push it up the hill for me between practice runs!  I felt pretty rusty but glad to have done a little BMX and a lot of pump track riding in the past year because that helped me not totally embarrass myself in the Pro class.  I definitely didn't beat any of the big names in qualifying, but wound up in 8th to make the finals only to go against crazy fast BMX Olympian Jill Kintner in the first round.  Oh well...it could be worse, at least I didn't crash and had a lot of fun launching the jumps at the bottom.  Also it was really cool to be in there with all those super fast ladies, and was really inspiring to watch the rest of the finals and see them shred.  It makes me wish there were a few more dual slalom courses around here to ride and race!

Waiting for dual slalom finals

    On Saturday before the dual slalom finals our sponsor Loaded Precision had a gathering with food and drinks at their booth, which was lots of fun to hang out at and meet some new folks, and introduce the team to everyone who dropped in.  Unfortunately for my east coast fundraising, the Yelo Velo booth was only open on Thursday and I'm not sure how much of a dent that will make in my plane ticket... If anybody who reads this can afford to put $5 or $10 toward my travel funds it would be greatly appreciated, find the Donate link on the right side of the page at http://shineridersco.com/?q=team.  That would help me get to the next 2 Pro GRT races back east and hopefully stay on top of the overall standings!

Over the hip on the DH course

   As for the downhill race on Sunday, I was having oodles of fun in practice and feeling good about the probability of a clean run.  I conquered some mental demons from last year by finally hitting the first big double at the top on Friday, which helped me clear the next few jumps successfully and made it that much easier to go fast.  The last step down at the bottom of the course had also given me trouble last year but this time it was going really well because I was able to get more speed to clear it.  Being on a smaller bike helped a ton as well; Kit's Yeti ASR-7 was a great ride that smoothed out the chatter bumps just enough but was still snappy to accelerate out of corners and clear the jumps.  There were a few parts of my race run that could have been faster, including the first corner on top, which I took a little slower after feeling really squirrelly in practice and barely cleared the next two jumps.  Hoping for a top-10 finish, I wound up in 13th out of 24 girls, a huge improvement over last year, and nipping at the heels of the World Cup fast ladies. There were 11 or 12 big names in the race and I just couldn't put together a fast enough run to beat any of them.  However my finish was good enough to keep me at #1 for the overall Pro GRT standings, just ahead of my hero Jackie Harmony.  Not bad for a borrowed bike and a late start to training for the season, but next year I sure won't need to be making excuses like this.  Either way it was the most fun I've had at Sea Otter yet and hope that there are many more to come because it's such a great event for meeting people and celebrating bicycles of all kinds. Now to figure out a way to get to the east coast for races #4 and #5 in the series so I can stay somewhere near the top of the standings--if I'm second to Jackie H in the end that's still pretty darn good!

More photos to be found here:
http://www.zazoosh.com/members/viewGallery/15745

Fontana race report

   After less than 2 weeks at home in Tahoe, we got back on the road to another race in Fontana, southern CA, the apparent smog capital of the US.  I expected a course more like Sea Otter than anything else, but was pleasantly surprised--ok, really surprised--to find a legitimately gnarly DH course.  Half of it, anyhow, because the gnarly part dropped straight down from the top in about 1 1/2 minutes and the rest was sprinting down "the Wall" to the finish.  Loose dirt and a long steep waterfall section toward the bottom was giving a lot of racers trouble, especially those winding up in the safety fence watching their bikes tumble down the cliff below.  I fortunately had only one minor crash there in practice after trying a new line and finding it was no good, then decided to stick with my original line after that.

Down the waterfall

   I rode the qualifying run on Saturday just like practice, a little on the safe side but clean, winding up in first by 30 seconds after the other 4 ladies crashed at least once.  None of the World Cup regulars were racing on the women's side, so the race was definitely up for grabs for any of us non-superhumans.  It felt good to be ahead but at the same time I was a little worried about my race run crashing habit.  Sunday morning I got up early for 2 practice runs, which felt great, and went back to chill at the van.  Following Jackie Harmony's advice after the Bootleg disaster my goal was to get good and warmed up and then keep moving up until I get in the gate.  This would supposedly reduce the massive adrenaline flood right when I start, and the subsequent spazz attack that makes me crash all over the place.  I probably looked like a goon jumping around in line for the start gate but it seemed to work, along with somehow convincing myself that it was another practice run.  I may have been too far on the slow side but it still worked!  I cruised through the upper section, crossed the road, went into the last technical part before the wall and got caught behind the girl who started two places ahead of me.  Finally enough room to pass at the wall and I sprinted my brains out, coming in 5 seconds ahead of Jackie Swider in second place and 15 ahead of Amber Price in third. For sure there was room to go faster, but I was just so sick of trying too hard and wadding up that I almost didn't care if I won, I just wanted a good clean run with no dumb mistakes.  I got lucky and my strategy wound up working anyway, but there's still tons of room for improvement, since downhill racing is not exactly about going slow and I know I'm capable of riding a bike pretty darn fast sometimes!  I also hope next time they do 1-minute intervals for the pro women too, not just the men, since there was a pile up in the waterfall involving both of the girls just ahead of me and neither of them were too happy about being involved in it.  At this level of racing to have your run screwed up by catching people is no joke, and with the small number of women racing it would only add a few extra minutes.

Wahoo! So stoked!

    I'm super excited this season to sport the Kali Protectives Avatar 2 helmet, the lightest full face lid I've ever worn, and comfy new Smith goggles that do exactly what they should--pretend they don't exist while keeping the gnar out of your eyes. They even came with extra mirrored lenses which are great for courses like Fontana and Bootleg that are out in the relentless bright sun.  Hanging around the 5.10 tent landed me a pair of last year's demo Karvers, a women's specific flat pedal shoe that is miles better than the too-big Freeriders I had been wearing the past couple of seasons. We haven't gotten our new 2013 Loeka kits yet, hopefully that will happen at Sea Otter, but I am becoming a huge fan of the all-mountain Ozust shorts for breathability on warm days of DH riding. It's so nice to not be wearing dude's riding clothes or obnoxious racer-geek outfits... and it's safe to say, without the support of Lindsay Beth Currier and Shine Riders Co that I would likely not be considering the prospect of racing the east coast Pro GRTs this year either.  Thank you SO much to everyone who is going to make this season the best one ever!!