Wednesday, April 16th:
We arrived in San Fran in the morning, and drove down to Monteray to the Sea Otter venue. I walked the course and discovered that the jump section at the beginning had been worked on (which is good), and that every single rut formed from last years mud fest was still there. It was eventful.
Thursday, April 17th:
Today I rode with the Atherton family, whom I might add were very kind to let me into their shuttle van. The course felt good; super fun to ride as always, but very pedally and a workout-and-a-half to race. I am STOKED on the sun here, as it is probably the first time I've been able to get a tan at this event. I also met Olivier from Commencal, and he is just as stoked on having us on the team as we are being a part of the Commencal crew. Thanks Olivier!!
After practicing, I went back to the pits and checked out my new Commencal Absolut 4x bike: SO SICK. I can't wait to test it out! Later, Brendan Howey and I went back to the hotel and went for a swim; it was glorious haha.
Friday, April 18th:
Practiced the dh course mostly by myself today which is never as much fun as with someone, however I did do a couple of runs with JD which is always a good time.
I also went to Shimano and got some of the new Saint components put on my bike; SO NICE! Later in the evening I went to Clay Porter's F1RST premier which was amazing just like his last movie. That guy has got talent.
Saturday, April 19th:
Practiced dual slalom on my new Absolut4x bike! So fun, but I think the course would have felt a bit smoother on a dually. I qualified 9th, so in the first round I was paired up with Joanna Petterson (who qualified 8th). I moved into the next round and was up against Sabrina Jonnier. She beat me, and went on to win the race, putting me in 7th at the end. Not bad for my first dual race.
ps: the weather today was TERRIBLE: it was sunny, but SO windy and cold that I had to wear 3 hoodies and 2 jackets. and i was still cold.
Sunday, April 20th:
DH practice in the morning didn't go as well as I had planned; my legs were pretty tired from the dual yesterday, and between the ice machine, drilling, and my mother's snoring, I didn't get much sleep. I was still determined to place well in the race though. However, I crashed and the rest of my run was pretty awful. Apparently I looked fast in the first section though! I ended up 16th; twice as bad as last year! Claire Buchar did well, however; she came 9th, and Rachel Atherton came 4th. On the men's side, Dan Atherton placed 7th, and Gee came 11th.
After my race I went up and watched Brendan Howey race in his first dual slalom race! He qualified 6th, and placed 11th overall. Atta boy!
Alex Pro placed 19th in the Junior Expert's downhill out of about a billion boys. He was the top Canadian boy in that age group.
Monday, April 21st:
Went to Aptos and watched the jump jam. It was a great turn out with everyone from Greg Minnar to Andreau Lacondeguy. Ian Nelson and Mitch Chubey from Canada were also there, throwing down some sweet moves. And of course, Jamie Goldman was there with his super posh barbeque. Unfortunately I left before I could have anything off the grill.
All in all Sea Otter 2008 was a good time; it was nice seeing everyone again, and the new rigs. Thanks Commencal, Marzocchi, Oakley, Shimano, Gravity, Giro, and all the guys at BTI for everything! It's going to be a good season.
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