Hello All!!!

What a weekend it was!! Fair to midland weather, the fresh scent of freshly pump outhouse juices lingering across the campgrounds and great people made for a great and unforgettable TWW weekend.

As most of you already heard, I placed 2nd in the beginner men 30-34 downhill race, I was surprised myself. A total field of 23 racers in my age group. A reality that I'm still trying to understand. My final time was 2:04:73 ish and the first place finisher was 2:03:68 ish. A real close finish.

The DH course was similar to last years, except the jump through the tree. The course was set up like a BMX course with many double jumps and a couple of table top jumps to mix things up a bit. The two most difficult jumps, in my opinion, were the drop-off after the freeway and the very large kicker at the end. My first practice run was slow and a "get a feel" type of run. My first impression after that first run was that I'm not going to finish well. For those who don't know me, I'm not, nor will ever be a "big air" person. These jumps really had me nervous. After my third practice run that day, I was feeling better about the jumps. Most of which, I would be able to "manual" or role over them BMX style. Some of the bigger jumps, I would just maintain my speed, lift the front and try to spend as little time in the air as possible. The course was a peddling course and the less time you spent in the air, the better.

Come race day, I had butterfly's in my stomach. There were many many spectators lining the course verbally abusing the racers if they didn't handle a section to their liking. I figured that if I went through without any comments from the crowd, then I was doing good. Any mishap by me and I would get instant feedback. Things started off well...I missed my pedals off of the second table top jump and had to stumble to find it. BTW, I'm not running clipless pedals, platforms babaaaay! At every chance I could, I would pedal, pedal, pedal.... at the drop off after the freeway, I was gaining on the person who started ahead of me and eventually passed him on the off camber section. As I headed towards the "kicker" I lined my self up and hit the jump but unfortunately was leaning too far back. When I landed, my foot slipped off the pedal and I fell off the back of my saddle. As I was trying feverishly to get back on the saddle, my butt buzzed the back tire several times. Of course, the spectators had something to say about it. Eventually, I managed to compose myself and I sprinted towards the finish. I didn't bother to stick around for too long to catch my results and took the shuttle back to the top.

I wondered to myself, what if I made that last jump as I did during all my practice runs?? Hmmmmmmmmm????

Ron

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Race Report by Mark Davidson

 I'm really enjoying reading everyone's Sea Otter race reports. We are a really creative bunch here. I have the day off so it's good to kick back and read these reports.

I forget to mention some other results in my early morning report. Eve placed 6th in her category. She was 2 minutes away from a double podium. She said she really made an effort to race this time and she ruled on the singletrack. Not bad considering that she was riding her 28 lb "Monster Trek". It would be interesting how she would place on her Moots once it's built. Also, Jon Heim placed 2nd or 3rd in his class on the downhill (details, Jon?).

Now the report......

I guess at heart I'm still a technical mountain biker.

First the results. I placed 5th in beginner trials. That was good enough for a place on the podium. In XC I placed 120 in Sport Men 35-44 for a time of 1:37 with seconds. I really thought I'd do better. I made a couple mistakes and fell a couple times but I was pretty happy with my race. I have to do the road work to get better results than that. Uggg!!

One lesson learned is don't drink too much coffee before you do a trails competition. I had so many jitters that my first round was pretty bad. The other lesson is that knee and shin guards are a good thing. On my third round, I fell over after I clipped in and knocked over a course marshal. The gash on my leg sent me on a trip to the first aid tent where I was repaired and sent back. Between the 3 hour trails clinic and the competition, it was enough to convince me that I can have a lot of fun at trails. Eve was similarly inspired.

Now the XC.

Pre-riding the course three times on three different bikes was a great thing. I had the whole course dialed in and I actually rode the entire race, including the climbs, in my middle ring. The only exceptions were the obvious hike a bike. The sand canyon when the "hiker" wouldn't get out of my way and I hit a tree as I was trying to pass him on the left. Also, on the end of the "third bitch" I had to drop it into the granny gear to ride around all the hikers. All that single speed training allowed me to attack those climbs with relative ease.

I saw Rich Henthorn a few times during the race. I passed him early, then he passed me then I lost him on the singletrack as I was stuck behind a bunch of "roadies".

The single track was so sweeeet! I couldn't go fast enough. I was big-ringing it the whole way and I made a lot of tactical passes on the narrow singletrack. No one was faster than me and I was always on someone's tail looking for the pass. I would pass a group, rage on and catch up to another group, pass, etc.... If I had any hope of placing well, I had to make all my time up on the singletrack and the technical stuff. The pre-ride last month as well as the downhill practice at Holister with the full suspension bike really helped get my speed on the singletrack to downhill speeds. The new Schwinn Homegrown with the long travel 80 mm SID SL and nice wide Hell Bent bars performed so nicely! The front end of the bike would track where my eye would go and I never scrubbed out. The only sketchy parts were when I was doing my inside and outside corner passes when I would go into the rough stuff. But still, the Homegrown was nimble enough to recover.

On the sand mesa, after the hike-a-bike, I was still trying to make up time. I fell when I tried to agressively pass another rider. I tried to fall off the track but the rider that I passed rode right into my wheel and fell. We caused a bit of a bottleneck on that section. A little further ahead, Pete Rudnick passed me on the climb like I was standing still. We chatted a bit but he said that he had to catch someone and didn't eased his pace.

The last bit of single track before the long climb home was the best. I was sprinting in the big ring and hooting and hollering all the way! This was also to warn people to get out of my way.

Now the bad part. I suck at riding smooth roads! I expected to suck on the race track at the beginning since I wasn't warmed up. The first entry on the singletrack was a sanctuary. I started passing people immediately. I also sucked on the long fireroad after hurl hill. It's a top gear sprint but unfortunately, I seem to have a terminal velocity. I was being passed by so many riders. The worst was the long climb home where I lost my race and the roadies took it from the mountain bikers. I never drafted anyone because I couldn't keep up. Nick offered to help draft me up to the top and it helped quite a bit. But I couldn't match his pace and told him to go ahead. I turned away and the guy behind me buzzed my wheel and yelled at me for not looking where I was going. "Wanker!", I thought. It was his fault for crossing wheels. He passed me and apologized. Good karma has been saved.

I must have been passed by about 150 riders on the climb home. I couldn't go very fast despite being in the middle ring. I didn't have the energy. I was almost going to bonk so I stopped because my Clif Shot was in my CamelBak. I think I burned up too much energy on those middle ring climbs. Another thing sabotaging me was that my drive train was possesed by Satan. The chain was making some skipping noises and fell off the rings once. It was a "wonderful" welcome to the fickle new world of Shimano's 9 speed.

I'm sure if I did a lot of work on the road I could get better drafting tactics and better long term endurance. The long road home would be better for me. Unfortunately, I would rather go to the dentist for root canal than to spend quality biking time on the road. No offense to the roadies out there although I've offended you plenty enough already. ;-)

This was a great first race of the season. This has been my best start of a season ever and I know that I'll get faster eventually. More Freemont Older power lunches and Page Mill climbs will turn the the long climb home into panty land.

So it looks like I may try my hand at downhill. I'm getting a real kick from going really fast on technical singletrack. Ron's results are really inspiring. In downhill there are no roadies on the singletrack to slow me down. Suit me up and helicopter me to the top. I'm going down!

--Mark

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Race Report by Peter "Big Racer Boy" Donohue

 Single speed is always the most interesting class. The guys wearing dresses had to be the most out there of the starters.

Very few hand built/modified bikes on the line - seemed to be way too many custom made singlespeeds. Not a good sign. Too many serious guys there. Sure wish I could have trained more. The race sure hurt a lot.

Race started and we went off. Not too much to note besides the fact that I sure felt slow as all these guys hammered by me. Saw two endos on the first bumpy downhill. Spectacular flying endos. Hope the guys were Ok. 

Going up Hurl Hill the first time, one of the guys in a dress passed me. I couldn't let myself get beaten by a guy in a dress!?! He kept pulling away and things weren't looking good for me, until something on his bike broke. Sure saved me some embarassment.

Caught a nice train of riders from an Expert class up the Climb Home. I'm sure that helped my time.

Interesting, no matter what direction we were riding, we had a headwind. Even on the Laguna Seca track - it was a headwind on the back straight past the pits. Make a 180 and low and behold, it's still a damned headwind. The wind was so bad at points that dust storms were being kicked up. Quite annoying.

More annoying was my back. Had lots of lower back problems. Had to stop and stretch a few times.

About half way through the second lap, an expert woman passed me. Her class started 10 minutes after mine. She was flying. And I think I am in love... She went by so fast that I didn't get a chance to ask her to marry me.

Second climb up the Climb Home, and I caught and passed a guy in my class. Climb the corkscrew and through the technical section and back on the track to the finish. Spin like crazy. Saw two singlespeeders ahead kind of working together so I spun my way up to them. Rested in their draft for a little and then started a sprint out with one (the other dropped off). Took him before the first bridge and then had to spin like crazy to make sure that I could hold it - which I did. 

Overall, I probably placed around 20th out of maybe 60+ starters. I was hoping for a top-10, after placing 14th last year. Didn't do well enough to want to stick around to get my official score. But the race is always a good time.

Thanks for the extra strong moral support at the end. Usually, no one hangs out until I finish (at like 4 pm). But this time, there was a crowd waiting for me. Awesome!

Peter

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Race Report by John Heim
 
 

Downhill:

I had preregistered in the beginner class, 35-44, but after Hollister decided to move up to Sport. Had to go to the NORBA booth to upgrade my license, then back inside the registration tent for a new number. Cool, I'm a sport DH'er now.

After the first practice run I was thinking, "what the hell am I doing in the Sport class?" It was very different from Hollister with all the man made jumps and berms. Anyway, practice definitely helps and by Saturday morning I was feeling good. Even saw Mert Lawwill timing one section at the start. There was an alternate line developing around a messy table top then cutting to the inside of a right hand turn. The conventional line was through the table top then hit the berm on the outside. I decided to go for the alternate line...I also worked out which jumps to air and which to just roll over. Consulting with Scott and Ron, we were debating the various strategies. The last big jump at the end was lots of fun. I was landing it so hard the spring plate in my rear shock bent. The Rock Shox people said they had never seen that before, yeah right. They gave me a new plate which I didn't have time to install. I was also using my preproduction Koski pedals, which were working good. I didn't design these to be a DH race pedal though, and it showed in a few spots. The platform size while big for a XC pedal, is still small by DH standards. Anyway, got to sacrifice my body in the name of R&D.

On my race run I was going good until I hit the alternate line, which was much looser by that time. I washed out and went down on my right side, blowing mucho seconds. I got up and clipped in again and realized my handle bar was twisted on the steerer tube about 15 degrees to the right. Oh well, no time to deal with it now! Pedal, pedal, pedal! Going down the course in a perpetual cross up worked ok in the left hand turns, but I almost lost it again in one of the off camber right hand turns. Anyway before you know it your at the big finish jump. I got decent air (for me) there and landed hard enough to pinch flat my rear.

I was stoked with a third place out of 30, 4 or 5 seconds off the winner. My Hollister rival Charlie who also moved up to Sport, got second. We were both happy to make the podium.

Cross Country: Sport 35-44

I prerode the course Friday after DH practice with Keith White. Keith just motored away from me after the first few miles. In the race I knew I could get a good start, pass people on downhill and technical sections, and then try to hold on in climbs and everywhere else. Come race time that's pretty much what happened.

The fog and sea breeze made it feel like back home in Pacifica. I got a good start, but in retrospect too good of a start. I was leading for awhile and could hear Nick behind me which was cool. Halfway though the corkscrew though I was getting passed after redlining it too much too soon. The current start layout makes the start less important before hitting the singletrack. After some recovery I was passing lot's of people on the first DH section. The dilemma with passing on high speed DH sections is there isn't time for the polite request to yield the track. The passer has to take the risk of going outside the beaten path at high speed. No problem though, that's what makes it fun. Until an off camber shoulder pitched me from my steed. I did a nice tuck-and-roll without even thinking about it. Derailed the chain. Broke one bar end off, and knocked the other one loose which I took off and stuffed in my rear pocket after rolling again. My neatly strapped in pump was now dangling precariously close to my rear spokes. Everybody passed me again. After a minute or so of regaining composure I realized there was nothing catastrophic so I started rolling again. Again I was passing people on the rough stuff and holding on everywhere else. I saw Scott Schlacter somewhere in the middle and it looked like he decided to pull over and detail his bike during the race. How he got his workstand back there I'll never know. I could hear him yelling as we moved on. Thanks for the encouragement Scott. I think I passed Joel in the fun singletrack before the final climb, then he passed me on the climb, then I passed him, then he passed me, then I can't remember what happened as I started to hallucinate. Once I got to the "extreme section" there was nobody close enough in front or behind me to make it exciting. I was kind of disappointed in that. I gratuitously aired the last jump. Then rolled in for 34th /177 in 1:26 something.

Now I'm thinking gravity may be my destiny. I'm being sucked into the dark side...

John Heim

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Race Report by Rich Henthorn

 Well, I guess old man Winter had to get in some last licks before giving way to Spring.

Saturday was beautiful. Sunny and warm. A little windy later in the afternoon, but I was still able to pre-ride the course in a sleeveless jersey and feel just warm enough. Sunday was a different story. I'm glad I rode the course for two reasons: (1) It was different from the pre-ride the weekend before, and (2) I was able to shakedown all my new Schwinn equipment before race day.

One of the spokes in my front wheel came unscrewed from the nipple just after the fireroad descent after Hurl Hill. I was able to repair it enough to complete the ride, no problem. That would have been a bummer if it had happened on Sunday.

When I got to the track on Sunday morning, it was looking like another fine day. That was before the thick, cold fog rolled in and turned the air-conditioning to "11" and reduced visibility quite a bit and making my Sliders useless. After warming up on the track for 45 minutes or so, I headed over to where I last saw the Start/Finish.

As expected, the Start was fast and I was in a large field (over 175). The almost 2-mile paved lead-in to the dirt was a little scary in the corners where the dirt-heads locked-up brakes trying to slow for the crowded corners. The field thinned-out a little on the corkscrew, but I was still in a pretty fat group when we hit the 1-track. Fortunately, no one stopped or crashed and by the time we hit that first lefty downhill turn, I was up to race-pace.

Really, the race was pretty uneventful for me. Sure, I could have gone faster in spots if it weren't so crowded, but kept myself nearly redlined throughout. So, except for a couple times when I had to dismount because somebody in front couldn't quite make a climb, I don't think I could have gone a whole lot faster. So when I finished in 1:30 and change, I was pretty happy with it. Of course, once I saw that 1:30+ was only good enough for 55th, I was a little disappointed.

Some highlights:

(1) The new section of the goat trail to the pond is a blast, isn't it? Lot's of us were whoopin' it up in the banks turns.

(2) I had one incident where I announced my intentions to pass a slower rider "on the left", and he decided to contest it. Nothing wrong with that. The trail narrowed and I squeezed past, but not before we banged elbows and nudged handlebars. I said "Sorry", so hopefully he won't write Joel a nasty-gram complaint.

(3) That cold headwind on the fireroad climb out was not in my plans. I usually spend a lot of time out of the saddle at this point, but with the wind I felt I was better off trying to reduce my cross-section as much as possible. I had a few people drafting on me, which I don't mind as long as when I start to fatigue they pass and I can use them for a while. That didn't happen. I really couldn't draft anyone until we hit the pavement again, but I was able to use someone to pass a couple more riders before the finish. Hopefully they were in my class.

(4) After snaking down the extreme section, I avoided that wheel-eating mud-hole just before the track, but I could imagine that thing playing havoc throughout the day. Sure enough, while hanging out after my race, I saw a few beginners endo right there. I hope none of us fell victim to it.

As reported, I think TWW got off to a good start. It was good to see so many people sporting the colors. Next up: Keyesville Classic in two weeks. Then NVDC in a month. NVDC is truly a classic that you don't want to miss. Believe me, you'll get sick of hearing everyone saying how awesome it is if you don't make it.

-Rich 

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Race Report by Tom Kramer

 First of all, Scott Seery should write novels. What a great story. Even my daughter insisted on reading his whole report. She said he has excellent writing skills, with many descriptors in the right place, making you want to read more. She was obviously paraphrasing what she heard in school.

What a course! I went Thursday for practice - great idea. I had no idea there were so many jumps, which by the way, I haven't really ever done. On my third practice run, I cleared the first two doubles, and was so excited that I biffed on the next single jump, bending my hanger. Practice was over for me. But at least I got a good feel for the course.

On race day, I didn't want to wait in line, so I went half way down the course and jumped in. I walked half way up and crossed the tape, and was bombarded with commmentary from spectators. Apparantly, that was a no-no. A course nazi came up and took my number, and said I could get it at the race gate. About 10 minutes later, he cooled down and gave it back. OK, now I know.

Knowing I couldn't master all the jumps, I focused on the first two doubles, and the last grand finale. I noticed most riders were taking the first two doubles and heading for the big burm in the corner. Very few were taking it well in the race, and I saw one guy hit it head on - launched cleanly off his bike and did a somersault endo into the weeds. He was a bit shaken up. I had to continually visualize myself taking both doubles while heading for the INSIDE corner, not the burm. As I approached the doubles in the race, I lined up for the distant inside corner and let myself fly. I cleaned both and took the inside corner on the grass and didn't have to clip out. That felt great.

The whole middle section went fairly slow as I rolled over most of the jumps. Leaving the freeway, I prepared to take the sharp left into the trees as fast as I could. Too slow, and you'll biff on the rocks and roots. That section went well as I flew over the two sets of roots.

Next I had to mentally prepare for the last big jump. Coming out of the turn just before the jump, I had to try to accelerate and line myself up to land to the left in order to miss the tape on the right (which I hit once in practice). This jump went just as I had envisioned it in my mind - I got decent air and just cleared the second jump, smooth landing. This gave me a bit of confidence to slide through the next two corners and hammer home.

I ended up with a 14/22 and a time of 2:24. All in all, I felt really geat about my run and having success with a little race strategy. Now, I just need more time on the bike.

I hooked up with Mike at Intense. They have a new rear trianle with a replaceable hanger. He said he would give me a really good deal on it. He mentioned he really wants to do more with TWW and was looking forward to seeing the Tracers.

Tom 

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Race Report by Susann Novalis

 Peter Strelacci dubbed me a race virgin since Sunday was my first race ever!! What a great day it was. My race goal was to not finish last so I really enjoyed myself. I didn't push hard enough being so eager to pace myself and not blow up - as it turned out I rode so conservatively I felt like I could have done a second lap. Now, this is not what "Ned says" to do and I know I'll have to crack it up if I want to really see how well I can do. My Category was rather unfortunate: All Women 45+ this means all beginners, sport and expert women 45+ I placed 12 out of 18 but there is no way for me to really see how well, or how poorly, I did compared with other beginners. But . . . I clearly met my goal of not being last. So I'll have to adjust my goal for the next race at Napa Valley Dirt Classic. 

All this aside, I must confess I loved every minute of the race and surprised myself with my aggressiveness which I guess was lurking there all the while just ready to come out. I loved passing other women and learned a lot when I got passed by the men who were riding in the Later category (the only category after mine). 

What a great start to the season!! Congratulations to everyone who raced. 

Susann 

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Race Report by Charles "GQ" Price

 Well my race, if you can call it a race wasn't to eventful. I wasn't sure if I was even going to race, do to my poor training schedule.

 Well I showed up and entered in the "Later" catagory. They call it a race, but there is no scoring and they dump everbody who is late in it .

This did make for a fast race. I was able to hold about mid pack til I got to the lake, this is where the cramps started. OK, what do I have to do to finish, no shuttle service here. Well I put some gel down and started to spin, hoping something would kick in. Ever climb seemed brutel. I spun enough to recover some, I knew I stilll needed take it easy since the Climb Home is still coming up. Even though I might of been slow, I didn't mind so much, since I caught some of the women that left ahead of me and had some nice conversation, even had one who tried to encourage me on, but I was done .

 Well I did manager to make it to the finish, with a time of ... well I just say under 2 hours.

 But I did have some fun. It was great to see so many TWW's out there. The Intense performed great and if I get myself to the level of that Intense, Watch out Pete R.

Charles 

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Race Report by Nick Relampagos

 Wow, what a great weekend! I arrived Saturday morning and it was an awesome day. I was set on walking around with my TWW BMX Jersey but had to scratch that for the A-shirt because it was too hot! Saw some fellow TWW'ers and carbo and protein loaded at the free sample tables. 

As we left about 3:30 I thought to myself...." we couldn't wish for a nicer day". I spoke too soon.....As we were pulling into our motel, I forgot that my bike was on top of my Jeep and Broke my Carbon Fiber LP seatpost on the motel's canopy! No other damage to the bike or rack. I didn't really worry much about it because I could have sat an inch lower in a pinch. I checked in and dropped off our stuff in our room and made a bee line back to Sea Otter to find a 27.2 seatpost. Salsa, Kore and Easton would not sell one because they were only display models. I went over to Kalo's booth and he had a sliver Thompson and I said goodbye to my $50.00. Back in business.

 Race day: I lined up on the left side and John Heim was on the far right. I yelled over to him, "Let's get the holeshot and meet in the middle!" Wes Taylor was giving me the thumbs up and off we went. I took off like a bat out of hell and over to my right I see John meeting me in the middle! That was probably the highlight of my race. I was yelling over to John that we were in the lead! Up until I realized that this was my first sport race and I wasn't gonna keep this pace. I let a group pass and they disappeared in the fog right before the singletrack. I was having trouble seeing with my yellow glasses and the moisture collecting on them so I finally gave up and took them off. At that point Mark Davidson passed me on the right. I wasn't too far behind him and Mark and I were looking good climbing up alot of the technical climbs.

 I was going along and some one was tire rubbing me. I figured it was someone who wanted to pass but it kept happening. I yelled out "who's behind me"! I then hear Pete Rudnick saying "It's me Pete"! On the way to his stellar finish. Congrats Pete, I'm sure you could have gotten the second place finish if you didn't spend soo much time wearing out my rear tread!

 On the climb home I caught up with Mark and we talked for awhile. There was a headwind so we planned on drafting each other but it didn't work out. Right when Mark said go ahead someone decides to cut Mark off, all I can hear is Mark yelling at this guy. Hope you got his number Mark. 

This other guy with a Merlin Fat Ti and I were switching places throughout the race and now working a draft and after the race he was hanging out with us I found out he new some of the TWW'ers.

 I had a great weekend (almost as fun as Band Camp) and congrats to all of the people that won, participated and supported us.

 By the way, my finish time was 1:32:40 Sport 35-44 I guess par for still getting over a cold and my first sport race. Next week they won't be so lucky.

 Is anybody registerd for the World Cup this Saturday? I will be leaving the Peninsula at about 5:30. Let me know.

 Nick 

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Race Report by Scott "Gearhead" Seery

 Race day. Yeah, it was cold. And windy. And foggy. And to think we were concerned while watching the DHers on Saturday about the heat come race day. Weird.

(Fade to Saturday....)

Pete and I left Saturday's venue around 4:00 pm and headed to the coast in Monterey to do an easy spin to shake out the cobwebs and rejuvenate after walking around in the sun all day. I was nursing a pulled hamstring I earned doing intervals on Longview Drive in Pleasanton 3 days before, and Pete an Achilles tendon injury acquired from the 110 mile Mt. Hamilton ride 2 weeks ago. 

We ended up riding north about 10 miles or so on a paved path along Highway 1 to the far side of Seaside before heading back towards Monterey. On the way out we met up with a roadie heading back to Santa Cruz after a day down at Sea Otter. The trip back to Monterey was a bit slower, now faced with a good head wind (a harbinger of what was to come on Sunday), but the cool, clean breeze was really welcome. Surprisingly, Pete was lagging the last several miles and said he had bonked, while I was feeling pretty spry. As it turns out, Pete was totally setting me up, while I had apparently just achieved my performance peak for the weekend.

Back to Santa Cruz for pasta at Aldo's (we were both smitten by the bronzed Brazilian goddess that served our bread and olive oil. And, yes, we insisted on several helpings.) and a glass of Big House Red. Last minute tire changes - trick WTB Racing Raptors with DNA tread and soft (yellow stripe) rubber compound - once at the cabin. Lube, gear check, shower, sleep. Weird dreams, toss and turn all night.

(Sunday)

Up at 5:00 am, coffee, grub. Pack gear. Out the door at 6:00. Get to Monterey by 6:50 and notice the breeze, but the fog had yet to materialize. Okay, cue the fog. Good. Pete got his high performance auto-shift bike out and attached to the fluid trainer to start his warm up. Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz..... I think he must have donned every piece of clothing he had with him. Yeah, it was cold. I took a couple of turns on the trainer to get some of the sludge to flow. Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz..... Hey, this was kinda cool! 

Last minute checks and clothing choices (jacket or vest? jacket or vest? vest and long sleeve jersey or arm warmers? knickers or tights???). Took forever to decide. Pete and I finally found the starting line in the fog and our group of gray-haired racers. Fellow Moots rider John Dillow emerged from the mist after a couple of minutes. The 3 of us did a couple of Three Musketeers/Stooges male bonding rituals before the start. I attempted to convince them to just have a nice social ride with me, but they'd were having nothing whatsoever to do with it. At least I tried... 

Looking around at my group of competitors convinced me that I was in the midst of brethren. These guys had good taste in hardware, baby! If they can't ride fast, at least own the best. I decided this year to try a new sustenance strategy for this race: a squirt of gel before the start and another before the last climb home. Mmmm... vanilla Cliff Shot is pretty good (why haven't I tried this stuff before?).

The start was a lot slower than I would have imagined. None of the elbow and bar banging that you see at most MTB races was evident. Pete scooted up towards the front within a 1/2 mile of the start. I, on the other hand, decided to get sucked along in the vacuum of the peloton and enjoy the occluded scenery as it rolled by. Very surreal.

Once around a couple of bends and on the front straight of the Laguna Seca race track, I figured I should try to move up a bit before the climb, and noticed a good 10' swath of clear sailing on the right side of the track for a 100 yds or more. I banged up a gear, and then another, and easily sailed by 15 or more riders, still kinda on autopilot and within the vacuum envelope of the pack. Pete was 2 or 3 riders ahead of me before the next tight turn (turn 11 for you car buffs). Around the next bend (turn 10), now, as the course heads up hill. I notice I'm still in my big ring and not working very hard at all. Out of respect to convention, I dropped to the middle ring preparing for the grunt over the Corkscrew. Now on the steep part of the climb, and thick into the clouds. I got stuck to the inside of the curve - the steepest of the steep - and got slowed down a bit before reaching the top. Should have planned a little better for that.

With the climb surmounted, a fast downhill to the dirt awaits. It is here that I noticed the droplets first impairing my forward vision through my Bolles. Thank goodness they haven't fogged up, I thought. (Doh!) Fast fast FAST! Big ring spin-out. Coast and tuck. Wow, lots of droplets on the lenses. Can't see any riders in front of me. Scrub a little speed and carve off asphalt and onto dirt. Big ring hammer up the first climb, carrying a lot of speed. Get stuffed in behind a couple of other riders now (backmarkers?), but get around them on the next downhill. Some guy on a new yellow FSR with white hair (with WHITE HAIR!! @$%#!!!) passes me in the grass. I catch right up to him and repay the favor on the next short downhill. 

Roller coaster double-track. I think I'm cooking pretty well and then a guy I passed two hills back blows by me 150' before the hairpin left heading down to the "swamp" (or what used to be a swamp). Gotta get by him. I crank it up and get on his wheel to take whatever line he doesn't into the hairpin. He goes wide, I tuck in underneath, and my front tire just goes out from under me. I caught it with a quick clip-out and deft dab, but I drove the other guy off the trail in the process (!). Sorry dude! Man, these tires are sticking great, I thought, with a bit of sarcasm.

I started to work up a little heat on the climb up towards "Hurl Hill". Okay, so now the glasses are gonna fog up. Friggen great. Because I wear prescription glasses, I have inserts in my Bolles. So now I have 3 surfaces that are fogged up, and one with water droplets. That's all 4 surfaces. Wonderful. I can't see but the broad outline of the trail. No detail. No ripples, or potholes, or ridges. I'm riding using Braille. As my pace has now slowed considerably, 4 or 5 guys spin by me. I'm getting frustrated. I'm fighting just to keep my balance I'm going so slowly. I finally get on the wheel of some guy just so I can follow him through the terrain. I apparently made him nervous, as he kept asking if I wanted to pass. No, man, you're cool.

At some point I could no longer stay behind this guy and ventured out on my own. Within ~100 yds I fall off-line and off-trail and auger my knee in pretty good. Great. As I fumble to get my glasses off and stowed safely (hey, it's much brighter out here than I thought), the guy with the FSR and white hair passes me. Arrgh! Back on the bike a bit blurry but now focused. If nothing else, the guy with the white hair is NOT going to beat me.

Ol' white hair tops Hurl Hill just in front of me. I catch him on the fireroad run down towards the Goat trail. Good eyesight or no, I can pass anyone on a road this wide if I have the speed and enough room to make mistakes and recover. I blow by him and hammer all the way to the turn off, which, incidentally, I nearly kill myself making because of 1) the fog, and 2) crummy eyesight and no glasses. I saw the turn not a moment too soon, as I was carrying way too much speed. 

Now on the Goat trail, I end up in a long procession of riders, backmarkers from earlier classes I guess. I couldn't see well enough to embark on some of the "alternative" lines though the bottomlands, so got on the wheel of another rider who seemed motivated. When he spurt ahead and to the side, I followed. Once to the fast, steep, downhills, I wasn't able to let 'er rip as is my normal course of action. Just couldn't see well enough. This point was driven home when I slowed, stopped, and then continued past the downed rider still in the fetal position on the steepest of those hills. He already had others assisting him, but they asked for ER response. Another quest. On to the new section of trail before the pond. Man, it was sweet, but sure wish I could have railed it. 

Once to the pond, I searched for someone with a radio. Nope, just kids with cups of water. A stopped to speak to the guy in the car at the turn to the old sport loop. We chatted for a bit about the downed rider and his location. I stayed clipped in and circled a few times, using my skill at pointing to the hills and spurting cryptic directions with snot and sweat spraying in all directions. When I left he was on the radio calling in the details to the ER folks. Good deed done. 

Damn ol' white hair passed me again while I was busy saving lives. Up the Sport loop we went, me about 100' and 5 riders behind him. At some point his water bottle popped out and onto the ground. Just as he jump off his bike to make a grab for it - can you guess? - I ran right over it. Both wheels. Squish. Ahh... sweet melody, and purely accidental, I'm sure.

To the scramble-up section. Shared many words of encouragement to anyone who gave it a couple of pedal strokes. I struggled just to carry my bike up. You da man! You go boy! At the top, now, and slow to get going again. Phew! Legs are getting a little worked after that rock climb. Thankfully, the next section is a long swoopy single-track at an even elevation. It's fast and smooth, and the line quite evident. Big ring stuff. Just follow the brown swath between the stands of coastal scrub brush that line either side. Perfect for ol' four eyes.

The details now have blurred somewhat, likely proportional to the degree of fatigue that was beginning to establish itself at that point. I do remember there were a couple of other steep uphills that most others were walking, and I ended up walking because all the good lines were already taken by those on foot (you see, you get OFF the good line when you aren't riding so that those who can ride have someplace to go. Get it?). I did manage to stand and scramble up a couple of steep pitches and pass a score of people in the process. Carving the last section of single track behind some fast seeing-eye trail blazers was a blast! Man these tires really DO hook up!

Now finally to the long climb home. As I slow, and then stop, to find my remaining Cliff Shot, ol' white hair blows by me again. Damn, I thought I lost that guy. In time, grasshopper, in time. I will catch you. As I was stopped, a tandem blasted past. Wow! Finally back in the saddle, gel taking effect. Find a rhythm. After a few minutes of crouching low against the headwind, my back began to spasm a bit. Up two gears and stand for awhile. That's better. Now my quads are pissed off. Okay, sit, downshift, moderate spin. Back upset. Stand. Repeat. 

There's Mr. White hair just ahead. He drafting with some other guy. I come up alongside and say something sappy like "Well, almost there." He nods, and I motor away. He tries to draft for a awhile, but gives up after about a minute. That's the last I saw of him. 

Now I'm picking off other riders with little difficulty. Feelin' good. And then in a span of about 8 minutes 4 or 5 dudes pass me like I'm 25 or 30 years older than them or something (hey, wait a minute... I am!).

After the second creek crossing another tandem blows past with 3 guys on MTBs in tow. Ahhh... pace line. I drop in behind and find some relief. As the hill steepens, the tandem slows and the pace line disintegrates. No matter, another curve or two later, and finally at the top. I cross over the bridge, make the sharp left onto the cart path. Just as the path turns uphill some guy comes around me from the left and cuts me off on the right hand turn, and slows me down. What the..?? I buzzed his tire a couple of times to express my distaste for his mother's mustache, before standing up and cranking by him and 4 others before reaching the top, totally spent, gasping, but oh so satisfied.

Down the extreme section, cautiously. Found myself a little nose heavy on the landing of the final jump (glad I had 45 lbs in that front tire). Managed to miss the mud trap (compared to last year, I would have gladly gotten "trapped" in that little speck of mud), and down to flat ground. Once on the track, I put the hammer down. Passed scores of riders, and finally got into a race with some other guy as we went up hill towards the (car track) start/finish line. As soon as we rounded the left hand hairpin turn, the race started anew. I stood and cranked for as long as I could, beating him to the finish, the second best race of the day.

Well, 1:33 and change and 16th out of a bunch of other has-beens (or never-weres) is okay by me, first race of the season and all. I actually suffered less this year than last. Rode a bit farther than last and only added ~ 40 seconds to my time. I rode much slower in sections I can usually haul. I think I would have broken 1:30 with eyesight and lack of other diversions. After all, I may have saved a life. And I beat the guy with white hair. Most important. :-)

Scott 

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Race Report by Peter Sterlacci

 As everyone has already said, what a great weekend. I was sad when it was all over. A few things I learned from this experience:

1) Pitch a tent you have never pitched before when you have plenty of sunlight!! (Thanks Ron & Robert for lending a hand). 
2) Buy the full length 'thermarest' pad. (As was recommended to me many times by Eve!!)
3) Never forget to bring your towel to the showers. After waiting for 20 minutes, I finally get into the shower and realize that I left my towel in the car. I had to dry myself off with my dirty t-shirt
4) Volunteering is fun, but don't do it the day before your race. I stood on the dual slalom course in the hot sun for about 5.5 hours on Saturday. Lots of fun and I got great video footage. I even got a shot of me talking with John Tomac!!
5) Always remind Justin that my name is Peter not Loren

The XC race on Sunday was a blast and I was happy with my result - 35 out of 156 in the Beginner 30-34 category. Total time was 1:38:54, only 6 minutes and change behind the leader. I remember trying to push myself on the race track, but then decided to hold back a little. I think I entered the single track somewhere in the middle of the pack. Not more than 2 minutes into the single track I fell and slide about 15-20 feet. My efforts to jump one of the water bars proved to wash out my front wheel. Luckily I just had a few scrapes and no one hit me, but about 15 guys went flying past me including Anthony. I quickly jumped back on the bike, regained my confidence and kept going. Two things were in my head: 1) There was no way I was going to let Anthony beat me (sorry Anthony) and 2) I wanted to keep a fast enough pace to prevent Robert from catching up to me who started the race 5 minutes after my category!! Well, I was successful on both counts. I passed Anthony on the climb leading up to 'hurl hill' and he never caught up. Also, Robert never caught me!!

I kept a very good momentum and based on Joel's advice I passed a shitload of people by cutting through the grass around them. I planned two places to eat some gel. One at the pond and the other before the long climb home. I guess the gel and the cytomax really helped because I never cramped and I kept a great pace. On the hill home I must have passed about 20-25 people and no one ever passed me. I was battling with 2 other guys for most of the course, but on that last climb they didn't know what hit them. The both tried to draft off of me but I turned it up a notch and dropped them. All of those pre-rides and my practices on a singlespeed paid off. No jumps for me through the extreme section and then I powered my way past a few more people at the finish line. 

It was a great way to start the season and I am looking forward to the NVDC!!!

Peter 

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Race Report by Anthony "Pile Driver" Thaulad

 What a great weekend!!! Since this is my first Sea Otter experience and also my first racing season, there were alot things I've learned from this past weekend experience.

 I arrived on friday trying to catch the DH practice from 8-10 am. When I got to the parking lot, a guy next to me said that thay will not let me do the practice run without a number on my bike. Bummer!!! This means I have to register for the race which was not what I had in mind. I was planning to do some runs and decide after the practice. So I went down to the registration tent and it was a chaos since many people were trying to register for the road race. About an hour later I was back at the DH parking lot and quickly geared up. It took me about 45 minutes standing in line to do the practice run. I decided to do the practice run with my flat pedal instead of my clipless and it turned out to be disasterous. I couldn't stay on my pedal through the jumps and the pedaling sections. The practice run was a nightmare. By now I started to regret my decision to register because I knew that this is not my type of course (since a week before this I did a practice run at Holister and it was a smoother experience) with all those jumps. 

Saturday....

I arrived at the DH parking lot at around 8 am and saw that the practice session was getting crowded. I decided not to do any practice run on Sunday because I didn't feel like standing for an hour just to get my practice run. I change my pedal back to my clipless thinking that I should be more comfortable with it. About four hours later I found myself at the starting gate feeling nervous and concern especially with all the spectators watching on the side of the track. My run was not a clean one, I stumbled once and went over the bar on the drop after the highway section. I was being to carefull and let my front tire get caught on those trees and roots. I finished with 2:49 and that is good for 22 out of 22. Well, at least I learned two things about DH race that is to do as many practice run as you can and don't get lazy to stand in line!!!!!

Sunday....

 I was freezing at the starting line with Peter ( the only other TWW in my category) standing next to me. The weather was sunny around 7:30 but I guess the fog decided to add some spice to the X-Country race. It was kinda funny because we probably had the biggest group and they actually start us with a gun instead of the bell/whistle. The next thing I knew people were screaming of the starting line like maniacs and peter also quickly pulled away. I was quickly dropped almost to end of the pack. It was not until the first climb on the track that I regain my position back into the middle of the pack. The race itself was fun except for the occasional traffic jam on some of the steep climb. Since this is my first individual X-Country race, I didn't really know how my legs going to react with the continuos riding without any stops. I was surprised that I actually felt pretty good througout the race except for the cramping on the climb home. I was really concerned and hoping that the cramping would go away by spinning in easy gears. Fortunately, the cramping went away and I was able to finish the race with 1:47 and change. That was good for 72 out of 150ish. It was definetely a better feeling than the last place finish the day before. 

All in all it was a great weekend and a great experience. 

Congrats to all TWW'er who finished in the Top 5. 

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Race Report by Loren Thomas

 I think everyone has said it.....what a great weekend. As I rode towards the starting area, I knew I would not be able to use my glasses. The fog covered them with condensation almost instantly. I didn't let my blurry vision discourage me too much. I was lined up three bikes back at the start and as the whistle blew, the beginner men 25-29 were off. I quickly got into the top ten group, suprised at how conservative they were being, I decided to move up to 4th before the corkscrew, but I ended up letting two guys go by before the single track. Unfortunatly, my stomach told me to take it easy over the bumps and a couple more guys got by. The only place I really got held up was that goat trail single track. What I consider the best parts of the course, and there are eight guys in front of me out for a Sunday drive. I kept yelling words of encouragement to them, and finally found a spot to pass. I got by two and was held up again till we got to the fire road. Some emergency vehicles got in the way and I had to scrub all my speed on a nice downhill section leading to a steep climb. I got around the fire truck only to have him roaring behind me up the hill. The beginning of the long climb out had both my calves cramping and a rider in my class slowly pulled by me. I fought the cramps and eventually got the energy to pass that guy back along with about 15 others (probably not in my class). I came on strong up the path adjacent to the corkscrew and kept up my push through the extreme section and onto the race track. I pushed by a guy who tried to keep up, but ate my dust instead. As I rounded turn 11 I looked up the track and thought I would have to slow the pace to make it to the top, but I quickly realized that we were only going half way up so I kept pushing hard. Passed another 10 guys and kept going through the parking lot. I satisfied the crowd by pushing my hardest passing two more. I heard some TWW fans cheering me on as well. The sight of the finish had me relieved and exhausted. My 33lb hardtail and I happily except our 1:32 time which was only 10 places or 25min behind the sandbagger who took first. He beat second place by 15 min!

Loren Thomas 

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Race Report by Keith White

 Ok, so I'll add a few...

I absolutely hate everything pre-race. That is all the hard training, all the nerves, sleepless night before, bike prep, worry, starting line jitters...all that crap. But, I love the race. Well, after the first 5 minutes anyway.

So, my recount:

I arrive what I consider early, about 1 hour in advance. Colder than s. I warm up, and take off all extra stuff, down to a tww jersey and shorts and head over to the start way early(25 minutes to go), only to find about 100 people already there. Oh well. After freezing for a 1/2 hour, we're off. The dense fog and the crowd has me a bit freaked out. I figure someone is going down and taking all of us with him. So I hang back and try to get to a side. Everyone is hyped up, so I end up about 3/4 of the way back by the time we hit the corkscrew. Then, start that climb where everyone must have been working to get there, I didn't start working until we go there. I passed all but about 15 people by the top of the corkscrew...cool... Now the fun begins. Up and down and around. Passing when possible, trying not to be passed(by being fast). Crank up hurl hill(which isn't bad at all). Take off the glasses on the climb and break off one of the ear pieces trying to get them in my jersey. Oh well.

Screaming big ring down the fire road...yeah baby!

Singletrack...ride, ride, ride. Some little 140 lb bastard passes me. I can't let that happen. I keep with him, we pass people left and right for a while. Me egging him on. Then we are stuck on the singletrack through the trees. These guys are going so slow, there is no problem just coasting and staying with them. So, I start screwing around. See a nice bump comming up, catch some air, land, turn, smack...hit a tree. Ouch. That's not good. Trees are hard. 3 people pass immediately, but I barely slow down. Out on the fire road and I see that little 140lber about 200 yards up and pulling away. 

One of the guys that passed me when I hit the tree is just ahead and looks strong. I keep with him and we are passing when possible. We enter what used to be the sport loop and ride hard. I know the hike-a-bike section is comming up so I back off a little. We hit that, the crowd goes right, he goes left, I go right. Everyone is walking slowly up this. I take the middle and run, passing everyone. Get to the top just in time to see that 140lber dissapear around a corner. Off I go. In the hunt. I see him now and again ahead, but don't feel I'm getting closer until those really steep short climbs before the last singletrack. Then I have him in my sights and catch him on the first steep climb. He follows a clearly inferior rider up the good line, I take the bad line and hammer. The guy in front of him falls over taking the 140lber out....seee you later...

Then I'm stuck on the singletrack descent behind another 5 pokey riders. Hit the long climb home with good lungs and start riding. Then a guy passes me and asks what group I'm in. 35-44...he says shit. I ask what he's in...25-29...As he pulls away, the 140lber is right on his tail...oh no you don't...We form a train and jam up the climb. About 3/4 of the way up I can't hold the pace and let the two of them go on. Still riding hard to the top, cross the bridge, climb the pavement, barely able to breath over the rolling double jump, down and onto the track. Pick up the pace again and jam passing as many people as I can. All the way to the finish line...crossing in fasion with arms raised in victory...

Well, ok not victory, but still it was good to finish. I got 10th in 35-44 with a time of 1:24:02.

Man am I glad that's over...I can't wait until the next one.

Keith

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