Sea Otter 2016

[Dean Lyons]

Enduro - Open Men 18 & Under

 

I arrived to the Sea Otter venue at 7:30 AM on Thursday, and I thought I had plenty of time to get a few practice runs on the first stage. Unfortunately, the packet pick up took so long that I only got one quick lap in before the pros went off. I got shuttled back up, and spun around until my start time.

The first stage doubles as the DH course, mainly consisting of sandy jumps and berms with nothing remotely technical. I was glad I got a warm up in, because this stage was all about sprinting out of turns. Come to think of it, all four stages were.

I felt smooth through the first few jumps, but right before the small uphill in the middle of the track, I dropped my chain. I threw it back on as fast as I could, but lost a few seconds. The rest of stage one went smoothly, and I headed over to stage two.

Stage two starts on a rolling fire road, drops into a flowy singletrack, and ends in a 30 second road sprint. This was probably the most physically demanding stage. I sprinted out of the start and felt great through the flowy turns. I tried to brake as little as possible, and got on the pedals whenever I could. When I got onto the road, I could see the guy that had started 20 seconds before me. I sprinted hard to the end, and ended up second on stage two.

Stage three starts with a quarter mile of uphill, drops into a fun, rutted singletrack, and ends with another road sprint. I powered through the first park, and was a little  tired when I hit the downhill. Many of the corners had been destroyed by so many racers hitting the trail, and I got pretty drifty through a few of them. I tried to make up as much time as I could in the little uphill sprints, and ended up somewhere in the top ten on stage three.

The fourth stage is the dual slalom course. The racers weren’t allowed a practice lap, so I walked over and watched a few riders. After standing in line for almost 20 minutes, I got my run. The dual slalom course was super rad. The berms are huge, and it’s easy to carry speed the whole way down.

I placed 13th overall only 15 seconds off top five. I’m a little disappointed that I dropped a chain, but other than that I’m stoked! Enduro races are always rad. They are a great way to hang out with a bunch of rippers while also doing some solid bike racing.

 

Cross Country - Cat 1 17-18

 

The Sea Otter XC race is always a unique experience. It is usually a much longer course than anybody is used to racing, and people flock from all around the country to compete. This year was no exception.

This year's course was the best Sea Otter XC course I’ve ever ridden. It was long, hilly, and incorporated some interesting trails. A new sandy downhill was added, which had sand so deep it felt like skiing powder. There was also some new rocky trails incorporated which kept the race interesting.

I’ve been recovering from a cold, and I wasn’t feeling 100% leading up to race day. I decided I was just going to go for it, and not stress too much about the result.

I woke up 5:45 AM (yes, apparently that’s a time of day now), and got to the venue in time to get in a solid warm up. My race started, and I passed a bunch of riders on the pavement. I lost a bottle on the first rutted descent, but luckily I had another one in my jersey pocket. I stayed in the lead group for the first climb, and for most of the first half of the race. Somewhere around the halfway point, the course veered into unknown terrain. Many of the trails were overgrown, and a bunch of riders got dropped.

The course took a turn onto a fire road, and soon we came to the sand hike-a-bike. Everyone jumped off of their bikes, and ran up the sand. Somehow when I got back on my bike, my chain was skipping. I tried to fix the problem by messing with the shifter, and it was shifting pretty well by the time I hit the sandy downhill. I let go of the brakes, and tried to make up some time. I passed some people, and set into a rhythm.

After the sand section, my group split apart, and I found myself with a group of three guys. We worked together for a bit, but I began to feel my cold catching up with me.

For the rest of the race I slowly slipped back in the field of riders. This is almost what I expected to happen, and I didn’t stress too much. I finished strong, and placed 15th amongst a strong field. I’m definitely happy with this result, and it was good to get some intensity in.

It was great to see some other Acme racers out there! Sea Otter is always a great time, and this year was no exception.