Nelson Frink, Sea Otter

The Sea Otter was a fantastic bikefest and the racing was the most fun I've ever done. You could ride around and check out the booths and people, with crowds of people milling around like a packed county fair, and miraculously I didn't see any crashes between riders, walkers or running children. As I was standing in front of the BMX jumping course watching the stunts, I could look over at the Laguna Seca Race Track and see the Pro/1 circuit race going on, and coming down the face of the hill was the dual slalom mountain bike downhill race. I did witness some gnarly crashes in the downhill races. The crowd was interesting in itself, with every variety of cycling enthusiast represented. A fair number of scratched and scraped faces and extremities were on display, and one guy was walking around with his broken mountain bike in two pieces held together by the cables and draped over his shoulder. A guy on a unicycle was riding down the stairs in front of me from the bridge over the race track.

I was very impressed with the friendly atmosphere and organization (except for the postponement of the road race from 3:00 to 5:00 PM, which pushed the race into the evening and resulted in some confusion as some racers weren't allowed to do all 5 laps.) I had some chain skipping and shifting problems in the road race, and so I went to the race mechanics on the circuit race course before that race to see if they could help. The mechanic found a broken chain link that would surely have snapped all the way on the steep section of the circuit race, replaced my chain with a SRAM chain, tuned up my shifting to the best it's been since I bought the bike, and then informed me it was all free!

I rolled out in the road race with Tom and Darin from the starting line on the race track where almost all of the road and mountain bike races started from. We headed out onto the eight mile loop for five laps, with a 300 ft vertical climb at the beginning of each loop and a 250 ft climb midway through, with many curves and low rollers mixed in. Of the 60+ racers that started out, the pack gradually got smaller each lap, but nobody could make a breakaway stick. The racing was the type that I love: flying along in the pack at a fast tempo through varied and challenging terrain and not getting dropped!

Midway through the 4th lap, a racer next to me asked if I knew Jason Snovel, and I commented about the great racing last weekend with him at Madera. He said he raced with him also, and I asked his name and he said Russ. Oh, Uncle Russ! The one Jason talked about in his race report! I asked how he was doing from the crash, and he said it was minor and that he appreciated Jason et al blocking until he was able to rejoin the pack.
There were about 20 riders remaining as we left the loop and onto the final 3 mile 600+ ft vertical climb to the finish, and a few guys went off the front like we were standing still. The remaining group fell apart gradually on the climb, and I finished 15th. I saw Tom at the finish and was surprised, as I hadn't seen him after the 2nd lap, and he said he was routed off the loop after 4 laps because of the approaching nightfall. It turned out that the initial results didn't allow for some riders only doing 4 laps, and the final results were a bit messed up despite timing transmitters attached to our ankles.

The Circuit race the next morning was also a complete blast except that it was a very challenging course with a 275 ft vertical climb that reached a 15% grade each lap. The corkscrew downhill reached a 20% grade and was a real thrill in a pack at 40 mph. The downhill banked S-turns were pretty exhilarating as well.

Jim Kuphaldt was driving a fast pace at the front most of the way, and on the third lap he picked up the tempo on the climb. As I saw him gap the next rider back, I thought I should move up onto his wheel, but decided to let him go. One rider attacked and bridged up and went over the top of the climb with him, and I stayed behind and did my best to block for him. Their breakaway caught up with and passed the 35+5 group and finished about 2.5 minutes ahead of us, with Jim winning the sprint. I took 6th in the sprint of the 15 or so in the first chase group for 8th place overall.

Combining the Sea Otter with the other fun things we did in Monterey such as visiting the Aquarium, strolling Cannery Row, watching a 3D IMAX movie, and enjoying Sunday Brunch on the dock at Fisherman's Wharf, and this was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.
Nelson