2013 Sea Otter Classic

The wide open view during the pre-ride.

The Sea Otter Classic is an event I had been looking forward to for almost a year and my dad had spent about 6 months planning. California's not exactly a quick trip up the road in the Prius and flying with the bikes was new to both of us. Fortunately, my dad found a double bike case and we were able to pack them together and check them in without too much trouble.

After a REALLY long day traveling on the Wednesday before my race, we got our rental car (minivan) and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway. It was very pretty and totally different from anything I've seen before. On Thursday, we headed straight to the event to pick up our registration packets and pre-ride the course, so my dad would be ready for his race on Friday. We also met a few friends and hung out at the ProGold tent with Bruce Dickman and some of the other guys, including the owner. I got to work the booth and show off my mad demo skills. (lol)

When I wasn't riding the course, or promoting ProGold products, I spent a lot of time at the Kenda/Felt tent riding the mechanical bull. (Yes, I said mechanical bull.) It was so much fun! By the end of the week, I had the second longest time, only 5 seconds off the record.

During the week we spent in California, we also went to see the movie 'Single Track High' and even took a quick dip in the Pacific Ocean. Being from Florida, I thought I knew what the beach was like. I didn't expect the water to be THAT cold!

On Sunday morning, my dad and I got up early, so that we could get a good parking spot at the event. There were a lot of different kinds of events going on during the day and we knew it would be packed. Even so, our "good" spot ended up being about a mile or two away from the start/finish area.

Juniors 13-14 line up for the start

As we lined up, I noticed there were about 50 of us in the class. I am used to Florida starts, where there is no call up, so you have to line up and claim your spot early. I did that at Sea Otter too and got right where I wanted to be. I was feeling great and ready to race! The first 2 miles were on speedway track and I decided to start the race off with a long, hard sprint, try to get out front, and see who could hang with me. It worked pretty well, too. I didn't see what was going on behind, but my dad said that my class was the only one all day that was strung out single-file going around the track. Eventually, I settled in and the strong riders caught up. Then we got squeezed together going into the dirt and I got shuffled back a little. I would make some of it up on the first climb and even more on the descent. I was flying and it was so cool! I was running in the lead pack as we crested the second hill. Then, out of nowhere, another rider tried to make a pass on me and lost control of his bike. He crashed right in front of me, I ran over his wheel, and went over the handlebars. I got back up, but when I tried to get going again, there was a shooting pain in my wrist. I rode for about another 20 minutes (according to the video), but when I hit a pothole just before the single-track, I knew my race was over. The pain was awful!

By the time my dad found out what happened to me and got down to the medical station, I was all bandaged up. The EMT's thought I probably had a broken wrist, so we headed out to an urgent care place to get x-rays.

Nothing looks broken to me. :-p

The whole experience was kind of a bummer, especially since I had really high expectations for this race. Despite getting taken out in the first 10 minutes or so of the race, my dad put together a good video documenting our trip. I hope you enjoy it.


2013 Sea Otter 13 to 14 from MTBMike on Vimeo.

Once we got back, it was off to the doctor to get a second opinion, and the first cast put on. The doctor gave us better news. Instead of having to wear the cast for 8 weeks, he thought I would only need it for about 3 and would only be off the bike for about 4 weeks. That sure sounded better, although I was definitely hoping when he looked at the new x-rays that he would say "It's not really broken. Just rest for this week."  Oh well, I guess a little rest couldn't hurt. But now I'm dying to get back on my bike and race. Hopefully I'll see everyone out there soon.