Thursday, April 06, 2006

RACE REPORT: 2006 Sea Otter (Day 1)

So I just got back home after spending Day 1 at the Sea Otter. All in the all, it was pretty much like I had thought: soggy course, high enthusiasm but well organized event. It was kinda like the calm before the storm being there today. Everything was just getting organized, with some Pro races going (see the wrap up tomorrow morning), but very low key. For me, I got my registration taken care of (yes, I ignored my own two posts about pre-registration) and scouted a little bit of the courses.
Sea Otter Reg
Surprisingly, registration wasn't a zoo. In fact, I would say I got in and out within 7 minutes, timing chips and all. They've got the marketplace up (but it's already a complete mudpit) and the courses marked off. There's kids (okay, not kids but teenagers) everywhere hovering around for the gravity events.
Sea Otter marketplace

After I checked out the MTX course, I looked over the cross country course. Oh boy. Muddy. And going to get worse. As I watched the Pro Women start the MTB Stage race (race 1 is the Super XC -- kinda a short track ++ event), people didn't even get 100 yards from the start before a bunch of people went down. I think Alison Syndor ended up coming in second to the reigning XC world champion that the idiot announcers kept hyping.
XC Practice
Hell, I even got a brush with a cycling celebrity (I almost hit Jill Kitner with my bike as she was commenting on how "form fitting" her new GT jersey was). All in all, a pretty good day. I'll be posting more early tomorrow morning -- rounding up all the other people's reports. G'night.

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