This is my third year at Sea Otter, aka Sea Slaughter, Sea Donkey… I think it should be called Sea Lion because I saw several of them in the bay today. It’s kind of weird to see those guys outside the zoo, like they might rip my face off. 🙂

The Sea Otter Pro XC course is different than previous years because this year, it’s a UCI race meaning points for the world cup. That also means some of the Europeans come over here to race, and the course is different. In previous years, it’s been a longer XC race with 2, 19 mile loops totally 38 miles. This year, it’ll be (I think) 5, 3 mile loops totaling 15 whole miles. The change in format will be interesting and different which is always welcome. However, for someone who trains for 50-100 mile mountain bike races, I’m not even sure I’ll be warmed up by the end of the XC race! haha. Nonetheless, I’m going to go as hard as I can, rail the downhills, and have FUN.

I got out and about at the venue today. We have an awesome Ergon booth this year with the sprinter van, and by tomorrow night, the whole US Topeak Ergon team will be here along with some of my coworkers from Germany. It’s fun and I almost forget that I have 2 races this weekend!  I also have the PERFECT pair of short track socks for Saturday.

I got in last night with a pretty rough trip no thanks to US Airways which involved lots of sitting in a hot plane on the runway, full on sprinting through the Phoenix airport to make my connection(I actually have shin splints today from running in mary jane type shoes… what would I do if I were one of those women who wore the super thin high heel shoes to the airport? Probably break my face) and then having our plane erratically dip to one side during take-off. Needless to say, I was delighted to be greeted by these fellas, with their fancy sign. 🙂

I remember my first time at Sea Otter a few years back. I had never been to Interbike either, so pulling in over this hill revealing bike industry tent city was pretty amazing.  It still grabs my attention!

After seeing a bunch of friendly familiar faces around the venue, I got out for a quick pre-ride and did a couple laps on the 5km course loop. That just means more pain! Severe bleeding out the eyes upon start! DIG!

I’ve never seen so many sheep! I guess they are used to help control fires because they eat a lot of the grass.  *crunch*

and I got a beautiful shot out of the deal.

It was back to business with my ride….

sweeet berms

I want to take a nap in the beautiful green hillsides.

The entertainment at the end of the day was the stuck FRS van….

still stuck in the mud…. Actually, FRS came out with a new flavor I got to try today!  Apricot Nectarine – my newest favorite!

Looking forward to another fun day tomorrow!