Stage 1 is the downhill course, the only section i was sketched on was a set of s turns in the middle that were all chewed up kitty litter. no hardpack inside line, all soft, deep sand. Not sure what the proper technique for that type of turn is.
The endruo start is a test of patience, everyone is anxious to get going, but we are all forced to stand around. The cool part is hanging and chatting with all the other pro women - so many cool personalities - the entire Juliana Free Agent team & their coach Kelly Emmet, Syd Shultz, 2 crazy fast Brits, Kelly from Bicycle racing express (VT!) , crystal anthony & Laura. Then finally its our turn to line up. Number order. I'm 62, so right smack in the middle. 20seconds between riders.
I had a great start for stage 1, felt pretty in tune with the bike, caught the woman in front of me right before the kitty litter turns, I attempted to get around her, but she wasn't responding (although in line she said she would scoot out of the way if I caught her) and I ended up sliding out on the turn. CRAP, Jumped back on, only to have the girl behind catch me, I wasn't back up to speed so i let her by, then cranked and caught back up with the girl I had caught initially, only to get stuck behind her on the "rhythm " section at the end - for some reason it was taped really narrow, so i just had to ride along behind her. pretty frustrating, but that's racing.
Stage 2 & 3 felt pretty solid, the sandy turns were even more churned up and deep than yesterday,aside from losing momentum in teh deep sand these were ok. Stage 3 really felt great - I'm glad I sessioned it yesterday - I did feel a little sluggish in my legs on teh very last pedally-hammer section , but overall I was really happy with both of those runs.
The transfer back to stage 4 is LOOONNNGGGG. But got to chit chat with some factory racers - i'm totally blanking on their names at the moment - and then lined up for a blind run down the dual slalom (kinda crumby that there isn't really any allotted time to pre-ride this course. Missing gates will give you a time penalty. Top of hte stage is off camber, grassy, awkwardness - looked like everyone was riding them relatively slowly - Then you drop into the bowls, there are some tables in between the berms, a jump (that i rolled) and a sprint between the gates to the finish. Not the best effort from me, riding blind is what it is, but i kept the rubber down so that's good.
No idea of the results. I don't think they'll be published until 5pm (4:30 cut off for stage 4). I"ll be interested to see where I stacked up on stage 2 & 3.
Afterwards I headed back to the car to change and ran into Liz (from NY Cross), Emma (a girl I met 2 years prior at Sea otter), Willson & jonah vasquez (they were looking for the XC course to pre-ride). It's so hard to navigate the courses at sea otter your fist year attending! They are both riding the CAt 1 race, which is different than the UCI course (they do 1 large 30(ish) mile loop!).
After changing I biked over to the venue & returned the Joplin to Juliana. ( I even remembered to take my pedals off!). Had a cappuccino (santa cruz has a full-on cappuccino maker and they give away coffee to everyone.) then walked around the venue for a few hours picking up free samples of chain wipes, protein shakes, electrolyte drinks, key chains and other chochskys. I like walking around on Thursday - it's still chill and all the reps are peppy.
Now I"m back at the hotel, going to shower and then figure out dinner. my face feels sunburned (or maybe wind burned).
Tomorrow is short track!