Napa Valley/Sea Otter

[Michael Koppe]

My recent nerve injury healed which allowed me to start riding again. I strained some nerves in my

right brachial plexus while climbing at Planet Granite. I was working on my "project"- leading a 5.11B

overhanging climb when something "gave". It didn't really hurt in the beginning, but later I noticed

numbness, muscle weakness, and radiating pain in my right arm. After 6 to 8 weeks it magically

healed and I began to ride again. I failed to mention that there was an audience of cute women who watched me climb that night so I "had" to send it. The moral of the story is -cute women should not be the primary motivating factor for training, otherwise it could lead to injury.

I looked forward to riding to again after an unplanned respite and was pleased when the weather forecast expected wet weather for the NVDC. The moisture takes the pollen out of the air and I can breathe freely. However the mud, wind and cold rain weighed on me. As I pushed my bike up Howell Mountain I was reminded of the Bataan Death March in WWII. but I was a willing participant. I finished 30 minutes slower than last year. My main contribution was the trail mix and warm van. They say it is all about having the right attitude and the right equipment. Well I had both. Somewhere in there one needs to include proper training and maybe even cute women. I missed not being passed by Katerina Nash and trying to keep up with her. In fact none of the Pro Women showed up for the mudfest which supports their claim as the superior half of the human race.

With renewed vigor I ventured to Sea Otter and camped overnight so I could be unhurried for the 7:30

start time. However I found out that means I start at 8:20 which gave me plenty of time to warm up and cool down. I wish I could ride down the hill from my camp site and arrive as they send us off. I did notice that I had the whitest legs of all the participants which reflected my lack of training. Some of these 55+ men can train pretty seriously since they are retired. There were about 35 men in our group. I thought Sea Otter should play music at the start that was age compatible for each age group(Rolling Stones?) instead of something I don't relate to. I did notice that there was only one more age group behind me and there were only 10 participants-another dose of mortality.

I started off fairly strong but decided I shouldn't lead since I didn't know where I was going. I thought I was leading the riders around the asphalt for multiple laps so I backed off. After a number of minor crashes and mishaps I finished 7th out of 33 in 1 hr 49 min. I need to acquire more race experience and resume my training. My 2x9 Air Niner was the perfect bike for Sea Otter and I want to thank Jim and Summit for that. Mike

[shiloh]

was it james brown who sang something along the lines of, this is a man's world but it wouldn't be nothing without a cute girls to watch us do dumb things.