The Tortoise VS. the Hares

It was time for Sea Otter once again and with there not being an ultra endurance event, I was forced to do another XC race. But the XC course at Sea Otter was a little more appealing to me. It was a 2 lap race with each lap being 20 miles. Not so bad. I can do that no problem...at my 24hr pace anyway. Sea otter is truly the best of the best in all classes and my respect goes out to all the riders who attempt the SO races.


I started training for Sea Otter a few weeks prior riding with my friend Mike Lee (Trek VW.) & fellow teammate Cameron Brenneman. We did a ride in Laguna Beach called the 7 bitches; 27 miles with 9000 feet elevation gain. I was starting to realize climbing was not my problem. Consistent speed was where I was lacking. XC riders are great at going out fast and staying fast for the entire 2 hour race. As a 24hr rider, I'm more accustomed to riding a "spin to win" style (the tortoise vs. the hare).

Sea otter is a 4 day weekend event. My race was on Sunday & my friend and teammate Bernice's race was on Saturday so we left early Friday to Monterey to meet up with our friend Andy who had a campsite at the venue.

Andy (aka mr. sea otter) got a Niner for Bernice to race on,(a fully ridged 29er singlespeed). Bernice, who had never been on a 29er or a singlespeed took an impressive 4th place in her race.

After raining all day Saturday it was time for my race. Bernice and I planned out my strategy the night before. Go out hard, recover a little, then a strong finish. Well things were going great at the end of my first lap. I was in 5 th place and riding with John Posner of Trek VW. I new that John takes care of Chris Eatough at 24hr events and trains with Chris as well. So I new he was a good person to hang with. We were going at a blistering pace and then snap!!! My chain broke and I lost the flow. Oh well, shit happens. After I finished the race I was pretty bummed at my 3:13 finishing time. But then I remembered that I really don't train for XC like others do. So what's there to be bummed about? I was only 30min behind Chris Eatough and 23min behind Natt Ross who are both top 24hr pros. So I'll just keep enjoying the ride.


Congratulations to all the Sho-Air/Rock N Road Cyclery riders. The team ended up dominating the event!

Manuel Prado Semi-Pro XC 1st Place
Manuel Prado 19-29 Time Trail 1st Place
Manuel Prado 19-29 Super-D 13th Place
Johnny O'Mara 44-49 Expert XC 1st Place
Ty Kady Semi-Pro XC 2nd Place
Louise Kobin Pro-Expert Single Speed Womens 2nd place
Mario Correa Masters 30+ road race 9th place
Cameron Brenneman Masters Cat 1/Cat 2/Cat 3 30+ Male 2nd Place
Cameron Brenneman Pro-Expert Single Speed 8th Place
Fuzzy John Mylne Pro-Expert Single Speed 15th Place
Tim Zandbergen
Eric Parks