2006 Sea Otter “MUD” Classic:


The 2006 Sea Otter Classic is officially in the books now, and it’s one I’d like to forget based on my results! With the schedule I set for myself over the winter, I neglected the time on my bike needed to be in shape for this year’s race. The courses were quite muddy throughout the whole weekend, and the slow speeds and sticky mud required some serious fitness to push through.
On the brighter side, it was my first race as the official Team Manager of the Yeti / Fox Factory racing team. With the addition of Justin Leov, and TJ Sharp to this year’s squad it looks like it will be a fun season! Jared Graves continued where he left off last year, by winning the DH and finishing 2nd overall in the Omnium. This means my first race as TM and I got my first win as a TM. Not bad!
The first event of the weekend was the Dual Slalom held on Saturday afternoon. The course was laid out similar to year’s past, except there were some serious mud bogs in the turns. As practice went on there were plenty of riders swimming in the mud! I felt pretty good in the beginning of practice, but as the lines deteriorated, I sort of got myself out of rhythm. This carried over to qualifying, as I came in 25th. I ended up having to go against my teammate Justin Leov in the first round. First run on the red course I slid out and carried a 1.5 second deficit into the 2nd run. I couldn’t make up the time and was eliminated first round.
Sunday was the final 2 events with Downhill in the morning and Mountain Cross in the afternoon. The downhill had dried up a little on the top half, since it didn’t rain much on Saturday. But, the bottom was still a huge mess with the mud thick and slow. I felt pretty fast in my morning practice runs, but was a little concerned about my fitness for the bottom. I did a pretty solid warm-up before my race run, and felt pretty fresh. I rode my Yeti 4x bike for the DH as it was much easier to push through the mud. My run was fairly clean, and I didn’t make any major mistakes. The bottom of the course definitely kicked my butt, but I managed to sprint better than expected. I finished 20th, and it was evident that I needed some fitness to hang with the top 10! Jared Graves won by a huge 4 second margin! So that was cool!
Sunday afternoon was the Mountain Cross event. The course had started to dry out, but as we began practicing the rain started once again. We basically had to roll every jump, and avoid the super soft spots on the course. The course actually made for some good racing though. There were a few different options that allowed riders to sneak in and make some passes. My first round was a bye, with me and Peaty only showing up. We cruised that round and headed into the 2nd round. 2nd round had Lopes, Peaty, Riffle, and me. I had 2nd lane choice and got out well with Lopes. I basically followed Lopes all the way and advanced to the round of 16. 3rd round had Lopes, Graves, Kirkaldie, and me. I had 4th lane choice and was stuck in lane 4. The outside lane had some major mud bogs in it and it was impossible to get around them. I tried to make a couple moves on course, but Lopes and Graves were gone! I ended up 11th overall in Mountain Cross.
I’m really looking forward to our first National in Fontana, CA! I need to get in some last minute training, but I’ll be ready for some Fontucki! See ya there!