Sea Otter Blues

[Carl Sanders]

My first DNF. Five minutes into the race at the top of the first climb, my egg-beater pedal fell apart, leaving only a dangerously sharp spindle to stand on. Realizing the cage was still attached to my cleat, I slipped the broken assembly back onto the spindle and I dropped into the first single track. That didn't last long, when I lost the cage while pushing through a sharp corner. Another 36 miles like this would have been sketchy. No way around this one.

I rolled out of the race and back to the festival where the Crank Brothers dealer completely rebuilt both pedals free of charge. Very nice. The ironic part was that I had just ordered a rebuild kit, but had not had time to perform this critical bit of maintenance before the race. Live and Learn.

Meandering about the festival, I learned that Shiloh finished ninth in his class!

As Planned, Shiloh and I drove back that night.