I had no plans to go to this race until Saturday morning! After reading all the e-mails flying back and forth all week I got caught up in Sea Otter Fever. So after making a last minute hotel reservation, getting my mountain bike in working order and loading up the van with my gear and the wife and kid, it was off to Monterey.

I dropped Kelly and Shae off at the Monterey Bay Aquarium then headed over to Laguna Seca to register. There I ran into Sherlock and Isais so we sauntered through the vendor area where we met up with Sterlacci, Matt C, and Doug Rea. We quickly gravitated toward the free beer tent and had pint or two.

 

Next morning I arrived to a very windy race and had just enough time to run up to the TWW campsite to say hi, then head to the start line. As usual I line up all the way in the back which was not a big deal. Off to my right I see Henthorn who yells to me "Go Rapid Relics"! Yup, that be me. Relic, yes. Rapid, uuuhhh......

 

Off the start I was being cautious not to get tangled up with anyone. By the time we funneled into the dirt I had passed alot of other riders. Into the singletrack I'm feeling good and everything is flowing when all of a sudden the line of riders in front of me comes to a grinding halt and we can do nothing but sit. And sit. Guys behind us start yelling but we're all helpless to move forward at all.  What the hell is going on? At first I thought someone had bit it hard but no, it was just a major bottleneck. After sitting still for a good couple of minutes we slowly start to roll again. I'm pissed about losing so much time but oh well, we're all in the same boat, right? Into the (very fun) deep sand downhill sections I get by a bunch of people who are freaking out, hitting the front brake, going over the bars and generally making spectacles of themselves. Good thing sand is soft.

 

On the sections of the course where the trail opens up I was making it a point to get by guys who may prove to be a liability in the singletrack. That definitely paid off because I seemed to be pretty lucky at getting guys in front of me who were decent descenders. Still, there were a couple more bottlenecks along the way. Did this happen to everyone?

 

On mile 10 I'm feeling good, having fun, and still passing folks. Then on mile 12 the moment I was hoping wouldn't come did come. That's right, the dreaded cramp monster.

I pretty much expected it though because I knew I didn't have the base milage in my legs to race competitively yet. It was wishful thinking on my part.

 For the next 4 miles I went into cramp management mode and began going backwards. A couple of guys (one from Webcor and one from Team Fastrack) I was hanging with started to pull away but I had to swallow my pride and ride my own race. When we hit the first pavement section of the climb out, lots of people were grabbing big gears and trying to grind away. With the cramps and all I had no choice but to spin in a lower gear which actually turned out to be a good thing. The big gear guys were quickly blowing up and I moved past a few of them. 

 

After the cramps went away I was on the move again and catching some of the guys that had gotten away. It seems they didn't save enough for the climb out. As I make the right hander to the climb back up to the track I see Mike Gin snapping pics and offering encouragement. I saw Sherlock taking pics too, seemingly everywhere on the course. His nickname should be "The Flash".

 

Onto the track I have 2 guys about 10 yards in front of me spaced slightly apart. I jump out of the saddle to sprint and catch a draft from the first guy, then jump to the next guy's wheel. As we round the last right hander to the finish, it turns into a 3 way sprint. I attacked about one second before they did, came around the both of them on the outside and crossed the finish line ahead of them. Good thing too because I found out later they were in my catagory.

 

Ever have one of those races where it was a real bitchin' race but not quite the finish you expected? Well that's what I had. I had so much fun and felt so good to be riding again that I thought for sure I was in the top 20. Heck, my finish time was over a minute faster than last year when I placed 27th. Then I checked the results which showed the cold, hard, cruel, (ok, I'm out of adjectives) reality: 43/103.

 

After the race we played hide and seek with the rest of the team, looking for the group photo location. Bench racing and beer followed. It was great to just hang out and see everyone again and introduce my wife to some of the people I've been talking smack about..........

 

Oh yea, I ran into Seery on the way to the car. We had a lengthy conversation about injuries. Between the two of us we probably could have gone on for a couple of days on the subject! He had been at the venue all 4 days and found out he'd be the last person in the last race of the day. Guess it paid off though as he finished 1st in expert DH. Awesome.

 

--Mike U.