Sea Otter has come and gone once again. I feel like it totally sneaks up on me every year. You are doing your thing all winter and then all of the sudden it is the middle of April and bike season has officially begun. I kinda like it like that. Anyway, it was a great festival once again. Busy as. I raced slalom and downhill, spent a bunch of time at the SRAM Ladies Lounge, did a signing at Camelbak, went to the Strength in Numbers premiere and caught up with all my friends and sponsors. Fun times. Busy times. I felt like I just left Vegas at the end of it all.
I wish there were more slalom races, it is seriously so fun. Everyone loves it…racers and fans alike. I had a mechanical in qualifying and ended up qualifying right near the back which meant I was going to have my work cut out for me from round one. In slalom you are put into a bracket according to you qualifying position so first races last, all the way down and it goes out from there. Anyway, I raced Jojo (Joanna Petterson) in round one. Last year I crashed in qualifying and she took me out in the first round, this year we battled it out and I beat her. :) Good fun. Anyway, I made it to the round of 8 and got knocked out by Junior World Champ Manon Carpenter who went on to get 3rd. Jill slayed it all night long. Jill 1st, Buhly 2nd, Manon 3rd. On the boys side, Kyle Strait did America proud and won it…sooooo awesome.
I got my butt kicked in the downhill. I have so much fun riding the track and doing massive trains but racing it is another story. I have been working on my pedaling a lot this off-season and I am feeling pretty strong but to be honest I was just beat and the girls totally out rode me. Not a whole lot in the tank come Sunday after a big week.
I am so excited to add Camelbak to the sponsor lineup for 2012. They make some really great products, they are based in the Bay Area and they people are rad.
Just before Sea Otter we went out and shot some photos which you should be seeing in the near future on the website, ads and/or a tradeshow booth near you. Keep yer eye out.
Camelbak treated me very well at Sea Otter. In addition to keeping me running in heat with delicious Elixir’s, they rented a totally bad ass house right on the beach. it was a very nice place to unwind after the crazyness of Sea Otter. Pretty cool for all the boys too, after working the booth all day they got to blow off some steam with a sunset surf session.
Tracey Hannah wins her first World Cup after a four year hiatus from racing, Junior World Champion Manon Carpenter gets her first elite World Cup podium…and a 2nd at that! Greg Minnaar wins in front of a home town crowd, Gwin 2nd. 16 year old Richie Rude gets 31st at his first World Cup…so proud. :)
There are always a million things going on at any given time so in order to streamline things, I have decided to do a regular feature which keeps you in the know. Every Monday you will be able to see where I am and what I am up to for the week, a few things I think are newsworthy, events I am not attending but I think you should know about, stuff you ought to mark on your calenders…and a little tune to get your Monday rolling!
If you have something you would like me to share, tell me, I want to hear from you!
I’m doing/going/seeing:
Attending the Right to Play auction and film screening of ESPN’s Right to Play at the Vogue Theatre in San Francisco. I also have an auction item up so come bid for a good cause.
RedBull is streaming all World Cups Live AND Rob Warner is commentating = YESSSS. Gwin(ing) won a national round in South Africa this past weekend on the World Cup track with quite a few of the World Cup boys in attendence. Tracey Hannah won it for the ladies…can’t wait to watch her kill it this year! Matt Scoles and Sarah Atkins won the Oceania Championships in NZ I got named to the US team today for Pan American Championships!
Post-Sea Otter is always a good time ’round Santa Cruz. Lots of people in and out which means lots of new people to ride with. This weekend the Dirt Series is in town so Miss Kintner and her big van are staying with us and the rest of the Dirt Series crew is staying nearby. I am not coaching for the Dirt Series but the girls had to pre-ride their trails for coaching which meant we went out to Demo for a bit of a rip. Good times.
KP has been talking about this sausage market forever, the Corralitos Market and Sausage Co. Sausage. Sausage. Sausage. So of course we had to eat sausages after our ride!! Some of those loved the sausages more than others…
