Where did you stay!? Motel 4?
Bonelli & Sea Otter
- Thread starter muddybike
- Start date
I would have burned the hotel to the ground just to make sure I got them all..
Yeah man, F those things
Two star- what kind of depraved animal does that?!?Not sure how this ever started. Kinda bizarre if you ask me, considering what it's used for.
When I go for the tp I want the most sterile, least touched. Someone creating tp origami doesn't impress me.
View attachment 67349
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
This deserves its own thread.
Tuesday: worked most of the morning, then drove up to Santa Cruz to pick up a Joplin from the juliana/Santa Cruz factory to use for the Enduro. Ran into Kelli Emmet while getting the bike setup. Scooted over to Wilder Ranch to see how the Joplin feels. Those trails are crazy tame, but super fun. A few trails are washed out/rutted but mainly it’s smooth and flowy. I want to say it’s like six mile, but not nearly as twisty. (I know the ‘good’ trails are up in campus, but was told they aren’t marked or legal and it would be hard to navigate on my own.)
Ran back to the hotel for a quick shower and then back to the factory for Juliana Night. Great party - buffet, bar, live music.
Ran back to the hotel for a quick shower and then back to the factory for Juliana Night. Great party - buffet, bar, live music.
Pretty sure that's where I went about 5 years ago when I was out visiting family in Saratoga. Would have loved to have more time and or a guide.
Wednesday: work in the morning, then over to the Sea Otter venue for registration and pre-riding the open enduro stages. I like to get to athlete reg pretty much the second it opens, as there are hundreds of riders in the Enduro alone, add in XC, Road Races, grand fondo, cx races, gravel grinder, eMtb, downhill, slalom, etc.. etc.. it all ads up to thousands of athletes, all of them have to get through reg - the lines shoot out the door and down the road pretty much straight away. It also helps that I have an annual license - as there are 8 USA cycling reps processing new licenses, and have reg'd online (there are only 2 cashiers!). There is a bunch of waivers to fill out and lines to get through, and I'm out of there in less than 40mins - which is pretty darn good.
Then off to stage 2 (stage 1 & 4 are the downhill course & the dual slalom course - both of which are closed and only open for practice runs at 7:30 & 8am before the race on Thursday (at 9am) which basically means there is only a slim chance of getting more than one run in on one of those stages.
Stage 2 is a long, pedally and pretty smooth stage. I'm still feeling a bit rusty with trail riding - but it's getting better. The trails are a TON OF FUN - so fast, so flowy. Only concern is some of the sharper corners are soft/chewed up sand. zero technical riding. Stage 3 is easier to session, so I ran that one 3x. first run all the way through, then a lap session some of the sketchier corners (super sandy & soft), and a couple sections of super rutted hard clay - catching a wheel in a rut will mean sudden death -especially at speed. Then one more run trying to stitch the lines together. Then a LOOOONNNNGGGG road pedal back to the car . I contemplated sessioning both stages again, but it's a delicate balance of getting to know the trail vs wearing yourself out...
Back to the hotel to do laundry, Facetime the family and squeeze in a little more work.
Simple goals for tomorrow, staying relaxed, looking WAY ahead, and hammering the crap out of the pedally sections. That and keeping the rubber side down and I'll be a happy camper.
Then off to stage 2 (stage 1 & 4 are the downhill course & the dual slalom course - both of which are closed and only open for practice runs at 7:30 & 8am before the race on Thursday (at 9am) which basically means there is only a slim chance of getting more than one run in on one of those stages.
Stage 2 is a long, pedally and pretty smooth stage. I'm still feeling a bit rusty with trail riding - but it's getting better. The trails are a TON OF FUN - so fast, so flowy. Only concern is some of the sharper corners are soft/chewed up sand. zero technical riding. Stage 3 is easier to session, so I ran that one 3x. first run all the way through, then a lap session some of the sketchier corners (super sandy & soft), and a couple sections of super rutted hard clay - catching a wheel in a rut will mean sudden death -especially at speed. Then one more run trying to stitch the lines together. Then a LOOOONNNNGGGG road pedal back to the car . I contemplated sessioning both stages again, but it's a delicate balance of getting to know the trail vs wearing yourself out...
Back to the hotel to do laundry, Facetime the family and squeeze in a little more work.
Simple goals for tomorrow, staying relaxed, looking WAY ahead, and hammering the crap out of the pedally sections. That and keeping the rubber side down and I'll be a happy camper.
Did you pack up BOTH bikes??
Borrowed Joplin from the SC factory.
Juliana/Santa Cruz was kind enough to let me use a factory demo. Carbon CC and eagle drive train. Slightly different forks than my Joplin. Saved me a TON of hassle (and cash) trying to wrangle 2 Bikes at the airport.
I keep saying, your Juliana will fit in standard sized luggage! You just need to be prepared to wrench a little.
Even with that though, having a factory demo all ready to go is WAY better. Even though I don't pay to fly with my bike the mental toll of waiting for it to pop out onto the conveyor belt not in a million pieces has probably removed years from my life.
Thursday
5:30 wake up, pack up for the Enduro, grab hotel breakfast and head to the venue. On site and ready to prepare ride the downhill course (stage 1), but the officials were STiCKLERS and didn’t allow anyone to ride before the designated ‘7:30am’ practice time slot. At leaat I was near the top of the line - there are over 600 riders in the Enduro alone, so you can image just how long the line gets...
Bottom of the run and I get in the shuttle line, only to find out the shuttle isn’t running this morning!! (Meanwhile the trucks for it are parked next to us) So a long pedal back up for another practice run and pedal back to the start.
Before the line got long
Beach next to my hotel. It's insanely windy today. Not much fun to hang on the beach.
5:30 wake up, pack up for the Enduro, grab hotel breakfast and head to the venue. On site and ready to prepare ride the downhill course (stage 1), but the officials were STiCKLERS and didn’t allow anyone to ride before the designated ‘7:30am’ practice time slot. At leaat I was near the top of the line - there are over 600 riders in the Enduro alone, so you can image just how long the line gets...
Bottom of the run and I get in the shuttle line, only to find out the shuttle isn’t running this morning!! (Meanwhile the trucks for it are parked next to us) So a long pedal back up for another practice run and pedal back to the start.
Before the line got long
Beach next to my hotel. It's insanely windy today. Not much fun to hang on the beach.
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!
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!