Sea Otter Dual Slalom Recap on pinkbike.com

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.

Let the season officially begin! :)

What do I have to say about trying something new on your bike?  I gave my 2 cents to all the lovely ladies at SRAM Ladies Lounge at Sea Otter. Selene over at Bicycling did a little write up about it here.

I met Arleigh of Bike Shop Girl last year at the SRAM Ladies Lounge. I was inspired by her technical knowledge as she gave tech demos for all of the lovely ladies over the course of 3 days. I definitely learned a thing or two! After chatting with her a bit more I also found out that she has a great blog that she updates regularly with women related bike stuff. It is a great resource for all you ladies out there. Arleigh asked me to do a little interview for her Motivational Mondays…check it. :)