Sea Otter Classic and Pro GRT #1
a couple of friends and I started off the season by road tripping down to California for the 2015 Sea Otter Classic. We had a place to stay in Santa Cruz thanks to our good friend, Ben Furbee. We arrived a day early so decided to ride the trails around town. These were very different from the moist dirt I had been riding back home the day before. Every corner was either hard as concrete or moon dust and judging which ones you could trust became difficult at times. We all had a great time and it definitely helped prepare me for the following day of practice on the downhill course. The next few days were spent wandering the venue catching up with friends I hadn't seen since last season and getting a couple hours of practice in. Come Sunday, finals for downhill, I was pretty beat from all the activity and being from cloudy and damp Northwest I was also baked from the sun. This was my first race in the Elite men category and I was a bit nervous. I ended up blowing a couple corners in race run but was happy to come down beating my time of last year by about 10 seconds. I left this race excited to see what I could throw down at next weekends race in Port Angles, WA.
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| Photo: Cam Sloan |
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| Photo: Cam Sloan |
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| Photo: Cam Sloan |
I always look forward to racing up in Port Angeles because of how close to home it is and I know the trails very well. Five years ago this venue was my first ever DH race as a cat 3 rider. This place is where I learned how to race and I always love coming back. The trail started off a bit muddy the first day of practice but by the end of the weekend there had been no rain and it had become a dusty luge to the bottom. Since this was a Pro GRT we had to qualify for finals which meant that top 80 would be racing on Sunday. After struggling down to the bottom in my qualifying I just barely made the cut coming across in 80th place. Come Sunday I had a few things sorted out and was feeling very good about the bike and track. I was able to put down a super fast top section but got sketchy in the woods a few times. Bettered my time by a couple seconds from qualifying and ended up in 66th. Not quite what I was looking for but happy to come out knowing what I need to do. I can't wait for the next one!
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| Photo: Shane McKenzie |
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| Photo: Cam Sloan |
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| Photo: Kathy Sessler |
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