We Conquered the Sea Otter Classic!

Let me first start off with, if anyone needs a pep-talk, be talked into doing something, or feel good about whatever choice you have made, Stephanie is the perfect person. She totally got me convinced that doing the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike race, having never…ever….done anything remotely close to this, would be fun and almost easy. Okay, okay, she didn’t actually say the word easy, but she did say that I could “totally do it” and that “it’s not that bad at all”, that I would “be really good at it”! All said so convincingly that I actually believed her! Way to go Steph! However, she did not say, or ever let me feel, that it would be the most difficult thing I have ever done! This woman is amazing at mountain biking! But more on the race later. Let’s start at the beginning!

Steph recognized my feet as I came down the escalator in the SFO airport. Before my head had even cleared the floor above, Steph made her way through the crowd to greet me as I jumped off! There she was! Looking as cute as ever and smiling! I was so excited! We exchanged quips about the looks of each other’s regions in which we live, waited what seemed like an hour for my bag to appear on the baggage carousel then quickly entered the world of San Francisco! Hills galore, traffic through the town until we reached the Golden Gate Bridge.

We traveled over it, me all excited about being there, seeing Steph, seeing the sites I hadn’t seen for nearly nine years! It was so fun! We went to a terrific place for lunch, had a great cod fish sandwich….fish is so much better when it’s fresh! Steph took me back to her apartment, but first detouring slightly into a tiny community which she said was freaky, I was totally fine with it explaining that it looked just like Draper communities, nothing out of the ordinary. After laughing about the differences in what is “normal” or not to us, we dropped our stuff at her really cute apartment! What a great eye for decorating my sister has! I invited her over to my house to help me out with that. We put on some hiking shoes, grabbed the camera and went for a hike. We walked around a creepy elementary school, which I was aghast that the public trail, highly used, went across the campus right next to the playgrounds and class room doors, much different than the schools around here, where there are fences and no public is allowed to just loiter around and stare at the kids at play. It was awkward for me and a little unsettling, thinking that I was going to get in trouble walking that close to the school without having business there. But, after getting over that quickly enough, we started walking through some gorgeous eucalyptus and redwoods and madrones (I remembered, Steph!). It was beautiful and very different than my everyday. We hiked around and came to a place that I could only describe as an “as….you…..wiiiiiiiish” hilly area. Steph pointed out the poison oak; it was all over the place! I was completely prepared that I would be coming home covered in it! We made it back to town and headed over to a meeting about planning a mountain bike race. It was so interesting! Had it not been at the local brewing company, I probably would have heard more and would have been even more surprised about the stuff I did hear. Things that were everyday occurrences there just don’t happen here in Utah. Not that the participants/spectators don’t want it in Utah, just that the laws are a little different! It was fun to hear and see.

We made it back home and Steph made us some dinner as we played some card golf, which I didn’t think Steph liked until she said, “Can we play again?” without waiting for an answer, just began to deal! In the morning, Steph made home-made French toast! I was so spoiled while I was there! Yummy yummy!

The next day we went for a drive and hikes around Mt. Tam, which is beautiful! I laughed at the posted sign stating we were at a whopping 2500 feet above sea level (and again laughed at the sign in Monterey, in Sand City, population 250 elevation 34 feet). I loved the soft winding roads, they were gorgeous! We had a great view of the ocean as we drove along the “ridge”-top. And yes, we passed a Mercedes commercial, so I totally have to start watching commercials again to see if I can point it out! It was so great to get out and see the area and do some hikes, it was probably the most exercise I’d had yet!

The next morning we got ready to head to Monterey. We jotted down a few directions and headed out. We crossed a double-decker bridge, passed the stadiums where the Oakland A’s play and the Golden State Warriors play. We made it out of the city and into some gorgeous, gorgeous areas of Gilroy (I could totally live there)! We passed both the garlic and artichoke capitals of the world! It was fun trying to figure out what type of plant the artichoke plants were! Then we made it to Monterey. It’s a town built completely on sand dunes. I’m not exaggerating, completely sand dunes. I’ve published a paper on sand dunes and recognized everything about them, their migration, their stages….lucky for Steph I didn’t get into all that. We made it to the hotel to drop off our stuff and wanted to head over to the Sea Otter Classic to check things out. We put on our biking gear and traveled into the hills to the event, getting more excited with every “EVENT” sign we came upon! There were sooo many people there! Events were going on as we made our way to pick up our numbers. We headed out on the course a little ways to try out the bikes and for me to get a feel of what it all might be like the next morning. I started out all tough and conceded….until I saw a hill. I stood up and attacked! But my wheels just spun around! What was going on?! Then there was a down hill. Now let me just say that I have the mind set of a “roadie”. We roadies see loose soil as a hazard! There was loose soil all over! Everything was a hazard! I had to ask Steph if it was bad for the brakes or the bike I was borrowing, if I just kept the brakes tight the whole time! I somehow skidded slowly, slowly down the hill. Steph had already completed that one and was so far down the way I couldn’t see her. I tried to round a down-hilled corner, not fast, but enough that I couldn’t get away from the “hazard” and fell over. I got a nice scraped up knee and leg. I got up, brushed myself off, poured a little water on the blood trickling down my leg and tried to catch up with Steph. The whole time, mind you, Steph is giving me encouragement, telling me I’m awesome……..I’m believing her! Even after I crashed I thought I was awesome! Hahahah! She decided that we had probably gone far enough and we’d turn around…..I didn’t argue, I was tired! And we hadn’t even gone maybe a mile and a half! I was so nervous about the next morning! What had I gotten myself into? We went back into town and had some dinner, and turned into bed early, but not without a pre-ride toenail painting! It’s something that just HAS to be done…no exceptions! The next morning we got up early, ate a little breakfast and headed up to the event! The entire area was covered in a thick fog. I kept thinking that I had a hard enough time riding when I could see, the fact that I wouldn’t be able to see the trail was either going to be tragic, or the best thing that could happen because I would just not see anything and do really well! Steph was freezing, I was not. I ditched my leg/arm warmers and my jacket before the ride. Unfortunately we had to wait a half hour past our original start time due to delays. No one likes waiting on the starting line for an hour! But we made it through, kind of chatting with the others in the line, wishing we were all in the 15-19 yr old category (they gave up to 5 medals in each category and that one only had 2 girls in it! I could pass as 19 couldn’t I?). The fog disappeared before the race started and as we whooped and hollered, they blew the whistle and we were off! What the?! Why was everyone sprinting?! The first part was on a paved race-way, I was with the group!.....until we hit the dirt…..at least I didn’t fall again, especially in the same place I had the day before, but that was the last time I saw anyone from my group again! Steph was in her element! She attacked and conquered and finished an hour and a half in head of me! It was awesome! It was hell! It was so much fun and so difficult! The respect I had for Steph and for mountain bikers in general increased quite a bit that day! Especially when I happened to ask an official, in passing, was that half way? No, that was only 6 miles, you have 14 more to go! Ack! I was doomed! But I made it! It was so fulfilling! And to see Steph at the bottom cheering me on, and having her friends cheer me on was exhilarating! Well, I did feel like I wanted to burst into tears….but who doesn’t feel like that after a race? She, of course, looked like nothing had fazed her; she had done it with ease! Again, that was tough! Along the route I was asked several times by riders passing me, “Are you having fun?” THAT’S how good I must have looked while riding! Hahah! Plus, I wore through the thumbs of my brand-new mountain biking gloves! I must have been so scared and holding onto the handlebars so tightly and rubbing! We spent the rest of the day watching the events. We saw Levi Leipheimer (Tour of California winner!) in a road event, and Steph told me all about the Pro mountain bikers and how things started and pointed out all the really cool riders! It was so fun to hear about all the stuff she knew about the riders and then see them in action! But, I’m sorry, after doing our event, those downhill guys are wimps! Sure, they come racing down a 85 degree hill with turns and jumps etc, in less than 50 seconds, BUT, they get to all pile into the back of a shuttle truck and get transported to the top. Did Steph and I get that kind of treatment? No! We had to make it up those killer hills by ourselves! Wimps!

After we spent the day at the events, we were invited to hang out with Steph’s friends at a rented house in the hills of Monterey! Gorgeous views and great company! The stories were funny, the friends were so nice! I over-heard one of Steph’s friends commenting to another friend about a tiny, not bad at all, sunburn that the other guy got saying “rookie mistake” about not putting on sun block or allowing that to happen. I lightly touched my crispy arms and legs and swore under my breath! I ALWAYS put sun block on!.....except this time! Luckily, my burns were covered by my jacket and jeans, and as the guys were talking, I quietly slerked off without bringing attention to myself and them noticing my rookie mistake! Over-all, it was an awesome day! And alas, it ended too quickly.

Sunday came and it was time to head back home. Before we headed back, we stopped to walk along the beach in Monterey. There was this great play-ground that Sydney would have loved, and I saw this seagull perched on the volleyball net pole. He looked like he was refereeing a match! The sand was soft and the water was cold, but not cold enough from stopping me from wading in! I had had a really good time. I’m looking forward to the next time! Steph Rocks!