Sea Otter Classic - Monterey, CA

After being in our new house an entire week or two we were off to Sea Otter Classic race in CA. The only problem was that our house had a bit of a problem going on with it - a leaky basement! Luckily Chris happened upon this discovery while folding up his kiteboarding gear that was drying down there. Squish Squish Squish is not what you want to feel underfoot of a new home!!

A good lesson learned is to have an inspector come in both the winter and spring if you can....especially if the sale of your house is going to drag out that long. We had an inspector come during the winter not anticipating that buying our new house was going to take an act from God happening. When he came during the winter everything was hunky dory! Darn spring melt!

Everything was starting to thaw out and there was a pool of water sitting by our front door that was the cause of this leak. From the moment Chris discovered this, he worked day and night on digging a french drain with a ditch witch. What a dirty muddy mess!!!

We wanted to leave on Tuesday, 4 days before Sea Otter but he wasn't even close to done. He finally got everything done late Wednesday and we ended up leaving on Thursday for the Otter which is 2 days later than I have ever left for it before. This was going to be a great test for my legs......how much travel in a car can you do and still feel ok?? I was about to find out for the first time in my career!

The Mafia Racing/Pabst/Felt tent set up at Sea Otter:



Free Pabst anyone?


I got to the venue on Friday with just enough time to squeeze in a quick lap or two on the course. This would have been unheard of in years past with the 36 mile lap we used to do, so from that standpoint having a short spectator friendly lap this year was nice for me.

Ok, now it was off to Trader Joes to load up for the weekend, head to host housing in Pacific Grove and hit the pillow as fast as humanly possible. Short Track racing was underway tomorrow already!

SHORT TRACK
Got the Short Track race with plenty of time, got lined up and off we went. The course was the exact same as in years past. This year though there was an off camber/muddy section about 20 seconds from the start line that was sure to throw a few people off, in both senses of the word. Having rusty cross skills from the past cross season were going to come in handy on this one. Getting in front at the start was key to not getting bogged down. I made sure that happened here on the first lap.



I immediately fell behind pace of the race leaders which was slightly aggravating considering some success I have had in years past in Short Track.

Again, what was I expecting from this race though? I hadn't raced with most of these girls since August in Windham, NY, I had a lot of life changing events occur right after that, I then almost retired, then got super sick and I was BEHIND in all senses of the word right now - in training and in this darned race. : ) Who knows where I stood at this point in the game.

I was in it to see where I stand.....and if I stand. No goal other than that. There is something to be said for no goals sometimes! No goals = no stress but its not a good idea to fall into a pattern like that. You soon need to start setting those goals again or will be lost. But this wasn't the day, race, time or place to be doing that myself quite yet.

I just needed to make sure that I still can put up a fight and WANT to. And I did. I ended up in 12th or 13th (they never posted Pro Women's results past Top 10). I was pleasantly surprised with my first race back with the girls. It was invigorating to be doing what I love again!!!

In addition to giving out Pabst Beer we were selling Mafia Racing gear too


CROSS COUNTRY
The next day was the Cross Country event. It was only going to be about a 1.5 hour deal which is WAY different that the 3 hour event that it has been for many years. Although not true mountain biking except on the backside of the course, I stilled enjoyed the short course format. Personally, I have fun doing 4 laps instead of one big honker.

By the days end I found myself in 18th place. I fought hard to be there too. I was feeling good on every short steep climb that was thrown at us but apparently there were 17 others that were feeling much better on them than I was!

That's ok, it's still early for me and I am still trying to get my head around where I am at, why I am there and what I am going to do about it. It is all good and only up from here!