If there were an award to go to the most improved race from the 2013 California Enduro Series (CES) to the 2014 events thus far – that award must be handed to China Peak, which will no doubt go down as an instant classic and “must do” event for riders looking to truly test themselves and “endure” a taxing and challenging enduro like no other thus far in the series or on the regional level. This type of relentless event was what we were expecting when we signed up for the North American Enduro Tour (NAET) event in Hood River – unfortunately, that event didn’t seem to live up to the expectations we had set for a “National Caliber Event” – but China Peak did! NAET take note, CES is bringing some truly top quality events to the forefront!

At the riders meeting they alluded to this being “an all day adventure” with a long +/- 90 minute climb that would need to be completed three times before dropping into some rough and rugged stages that were capped off by a new “stage 4”. Add in some “hike-a-bike” sections and what turned out to be some searing heat and all of this taking place at elevation… things got real tough during the day!

Last year, this event was the first time we had ridden bicycles at a lift-style ski resort which made it a fun experience. This year, there was an additional twist in that a full face helmet would be required for the Stages, too. This would be another first for us! With the aforementioned challenges already on the menu, Brian decided to go the “two-helmet” route and carry the full face helmets during the climb. Bri used the Bell Super 2 with removable chin guard and both set-ups proved to be solid given the conditions. One note about riding a full face helmet is that you can really hear yourself breathing…and it’s a bit unnerving listening to what sounds like a heart attack inside your helmet during each stage! That took some getting used to!

In the end, making the long slog up the fire-road was well rewarded with super fun stages each time! Stage 1 started in the woods with some fun flow trails that were challenging but not too tough before dropping onto a fire-road pedaling section and back into some more loose berms prior to finishing in another twisty wooded section – good times! Apparently, there was a suspect line dropping onto a tricky fire-road corner, but Cannondale Over-Mountain rider and CES points leader, Marco Osborne, was having no such tom-foolery taking place!

The transfer to Stage 2 is mild and doesn’t require a full mountain climb like the other stages…so this was probably most riders’ favorite transfer! Stage 2 offers up slightly deeper corners and more rocks than Stage 1. The bottom is always a popular section for spectators as riders zig-zag down a seemingly endless section of tricky switch-backs before dumping out onto a fire-road sprint to the finish. With two stages down, we were both riding clean and staying off the ground!

The second time up the climb was hotter and more difficult than the first…everyone was probably beginning to realize just how difficult this race was going to get as we still had to make the accent one more time, too…

Tylor, Bri and Anker all cooling down with ice before the last transfer!

All the riders were looking for the shade!

Stage 3 has got to be a highlight stage for the entire series with good bits of rocks, high speed danger, deep corners to call riders out… and then the infamous rock garden section where spectators always cheer the riders on – so cool! With a new woods section replacing some of the fire-road from last year, the test was even more fun! Despite having some issues during practice, everyone made it through this test clean during the race. Phew! Afterwards, riders were definitely stoked on how things were proceeding…but also contemplating what lay ahead!

Photo by Scott @calledtocreation

Fortunately, the allure of the new Stage 4 and the steep rowdy challenges it brought were more than enough to motivate riders to head back up the steep slopes one more time!

Arriving at the top of the mountain once more, it seemed like riders were definitely taking a moment to compose themselves before the prospect of rousing up one more dose of awesome-sauce to unleash on the final test. This one hurt. Oh so good!

At the bottom Brian said his hands and arms were “moto-tired” which is generally only achieved on twist grip rides and not during pedal bike rides. That’s a sure sign of a solid day! Despite, giving her maximum focus, Bri had her only crash on the day during this Stage – a situation that seemed common for several riders!

The stories on the day were the stuff of legend as riders spoke about overcoming obstacle over challenge in order to persevere what turned out to be an absolutely incredible bike race that likely made everyone in attendance a better rider by the end of the day! Stage 5 is likely the most popular stage on the day as evidenced by the smiles and good times had by all at the swimming hole! 🙂 Here’s a little clip of Bri jumping off the rock: https://goo.gl/photos/JUjzRoGoKstSxZGk8

Jeremiah and Bri had the fastest men and women times in the speed trap!

The Marin/Rabobank Team

Brian on the top step!

Brian, Dillon, Tylor and I headed up to Hood River Oregon for the North American Enduro Tour (NAET) – It was a long drive, but we had some good company!! About halfway through our trip there was a lady trying to get our attention and pointing at the front tire, so we pulled over. Looks like there was a sidewall failure, so we had to do a tire change on the race van!! The spare was a little low, but luckily my super fantastic pink bike pump
doesn’t just pump bike tires and stability balls, but it does car tires too!! So Dillon got to work on pumping while Brian and Tylor got the tire off. We had the change done in about a half hour and were back on the road again. After Brian made us research every tire store option in Southern Oregon, we ended up stopping at a Walmart and got a new tire…while we waited we had some fun!! Thankfully, this whole ordeal went about as good as it could considering the minor setback.

We got to our rental house around midnight and Dillon tried to convince everyone that the house was haunted! He scared the crap out of me the entire weekend! I hope he knows that paybacks are a Bee-otch! Watch out Bae! When we woke up we were stoked to be only about 5 minutes from the staging area for the event which was super nice. We signed up for the shuttles from Hood River Adventures, Drew is AWESOME!!! If you ever need shuttles, you should definitely hit them up. We ended up on the Shuttle with Curtis Keene and Mitch Ropeleto who we rode with for the morning. They took us through all of the stages and gave us tips as we went along. These are two of the nicest guys you could ever meet. They are truly worthy of their factory Specialized support and are wonderful ambassadors for the sport. After practice, we headed home and got ready for day 1.

We got a shuttle to the top for the first stage and then pedaled about 20 minutes to the start. Once we were up there we got to play the hurry up and wait game! As I was standing there, this girl came up to me and said, “Are you Mallory’s sister?” (For those of you that don’t’ know my sister lives in Texas and only started riding bikes about a year ago!) So I was shocked as crap as to how someone knew my sister from Texas!! It turns out her name is Porsha and she is friends with a friend of my sisters that ride together. I remember my sister telling me a while back that two of her friends were going to be traveling and racing. Such a small world!!! And as it turns out, Porsha is a force to be reckoned with!

After over an hour long wait, I lined up to start the “XC – Stage 1”, which was a super fun, pedaly stage that I ROYALLY Fu@$*d up!!! I’m so used to the California Enduro Series (CES) and their starting procedure where we roll out anytime with 5 to 1 seconds left….well up here, you go on the buzzer. My dumb a$$ started on 2!!! WTF, so I hesitated, then stopped then went, the stopped, then the buzzer went, tried to pedal and the chain jumped it almost bucked me off the bike, then I went like 3 more feet and clipped a root and came off again!!!! WTF!!!! Luckily I heard Brian in the distance yell, “Focus babe, this is a long stage!” He was right it was about a 10 minute stage, so I tried my best to get my mind back on track and pedaled as fast as I could especially knowing that Kelli Emmett was behind me!! When I got to the bottom, a couple of girls back said I was going to get a 30 second penalty for jumping the gun! WHAT??? It was a total mistake and I was super bummed. I found the guy in charge at the next stage and he said the most I would be penalized was 5 seconds…so that was good.

On to stage 2 and what turned out to be my favorite stage!! It started with a fast pedal into some rock gardens and then through some twisties down at the bottom. I didn’t go until the buzzer on this one!! HAHA!! I went as fast as I could and ended up finishing about 6 seconds behind Kelli – that was pretty awesome!! We had some SUPER fast girls in our class and a few of which were local! The girl that ended up winning the race was a French girl who happens to be a World Cup XC racer, she was fast as SHIT!!

Stage 3 had to be everyone’s least favorite. It was somewhat like a flow trail except none of the corners had any traction and it was slippery as crap!! I knew I just had to get through it without crashing! I was so happy to be done with that! Brian finished just after me and he learned that he was penalized on that stage for clipping in at the buzzer instead of after it…he was pretty bummed out. We later found out that the rules are clear, but the volunteers weren’t all up on them, so that was a bit of a bummer! Live and learn. We were done with Day 1 of racing, I think it was less than an hour total on the bike, so we went up to practice Stage 5 which was the most technical.

Stage 5 was super steep, plus it has a bunch of rocks and roots and then when you come out of the trees there is this small drop. Porsha and I sessioned the section a couple of times and felt dialed!! After that we went to the Columbia River and swam, it was so nice!! There are a ton kite boarders and wind surfers, which is what this area is really known for.

Day 2 was here and I was sitting in 5th place with about a 13 second gap, so I was happy with that. Stage 4 was basically Stage 2 with a fire road leading up into it, so I knew I would do good on this stage as it was my favorite from the first day! I got to the bottom and felt good with my time. I headed up to Stage 5 and told myself all I had to do was ride smooth and stay on the bike. Well unfortunately something went wrong in the steepest
section…I don’t know how or what happened but my left bar hit a tree and my front brake and I ended up over the bars landing on my face. Ouch. I guess there is a reason full face helmets exist. I got up and struggled getting my bottle back on my bike, finally got on the bike and went to find out I had no brake lever when I went to brake and ended up crashing again!!!! It was awful, I figured out it had twisted 180* in the crash, so I had to hit it back into place. I somehow made it off the drop and finished the stage. I got to the bottom and realized my Garmin wasn’t there, UGH! The next girl behind me was Jenny Konway and she said she had a friend up there and asked him to look for it, she said chances were good since he was a mushroom hunter!! HAHA! Apparently I looked really dirty because people were asking if I was ok. I was fine, just super pissed knowing I probably lost my 5th place with the crash. (Notice my brake lever flipped in the pic below!)

Get a bit loose on stage five, clip a tree, and kiss the dirt. Breanne Spiersch taking precious seconds to get sorted before getting back on the bike. It’s a good call to take that extra second to make certain everything’s ok after getting tossed hard on a steep, loose section of track like that.

I headed over to Stage 6 and was having nothing but problems with the shifting and looked down to see my derailleur was bent to shit. A super nice guy tried to help me fix it and it broke off completely! GREAT!! He felt so bad, I told him it wasn’t his fault at all it wasn’t pedaling anyway. Another guy came up and said he could give me the easiest gear, but I couldn’t put pressure on the pedal. I told them thanks and decided to wait for my
fellow Marin Riders to see if any of them had a derailleur hanger and if they didn’t I would try to ride and be careful with what I had. Turns out not one of the boys had a hanger so it was off I went. I barely got a few pedal strokes in before I heard it start making a lot of noise so I started pumping from there. There were a few rollers I almost didn’t make it up, and I could hear the derailleur making a ton of noise when I went over rocks and roots so I was being super careful not to make it move too much. I got to the bottom of 6 and saw Brian. I was pretty bummed out with my situation but I just decided to head over to the last stage. I had to walk most of that transfer because it was all up hill.

I got to the top and let a few of the boys go before I headed off again! I told the timers it was going to be the most anticlimactic start ever before I spun out. Haha!! I was a little worried about the g-out in this stage because it was pretty steep, so I just told myself to let go of the brakes or I wasn’t going to make it up the other side!!! I made it through and coasted the rest of the way. There were a ton of sections I would normally have been pedaling, but I just worked on my pumping and being as smooth as I could be!! I was so ready to be done with the race!! All the girls were cheering for me at the end which was super nice of them! I got to the car to put the derailleur hanger on so I could ride more, but it turns out the derailleur was missing a part and couldn’t be fixed. Luckily I have the most amazing sponsor support from Chris at Marin Bikes – he had one in the mail for me when I got back from the trip! That is definitely worthy of Raawr!!!

Dillon killing it!

Everyone seemed to be pretty happy with their races. I ended up losing quite a bit of time in Stage 5 and 6 ( I had the slowest times on both) but on stage 7 had a pretty good time! I was in 6th place for the weekend and didn’t lose anymore spots which was good. Overall it was a really fun weekend of racing on some super fun trails!! I can’t wait to go back up for Mt. Hood later this year!!

Brian up on the top step! He and Sam battled all day.

We celebrated with some Ice Cream on the way home!

This past weekend was in the Mendocino forest. It was so gorgeous, we had the sun the whole weekend!! When we came up for the pre-rides it was foggy, so the sun was a nice surprise.

We got to town Thursday right at dinner time so we set up camp and ate our food, then we played tourists for the night. We went to the famous Cowlicks Hand made Ice Cream where I got the Mushroom icecream (my absolute favorite!), and Brian and Dillon had the Raspberry Chocolate Chip which tasted like dark chocolate covered raspberries!! Then we headed off to the Glass Beach. The glass beach was created from years of dumping garbage into an area of the coastline from 1907 to 1967. It’s pretty gorgeous to see it in person, and it’s a little crazy to think it’s all trash!!

Friday was pre-ride day, we had the pleasure of riding with Mr. and Mrs. Fitzy and got to show them some of the trails, the forest is so big there really wasn’t a way to see all of the segments for the whole weekend. Even though we were able to pre-ride some of the trails, it’s still hard to remember which one is which. They are all pretty narrow and had a lot of trees you had to watch out for, they would grab your bars and shoulders really quick and the fall down the hillside was pretty long in most sections!!

Day 1 we were ready to race, it was kind of anti-climactic as they said we would start at 9:00, there wasn’t anyone to tell us to go so people were just riding off to start the race. We started out with about an hour climb to get to the first stage. The first stage was on Manly, which was pretty fun! It was one of the longer stages from the weekend and had a few things you needed to watch out for, I ended up off the bike running on this stage as I seemed to be in the wrong gear which continued all day! I was such a goober! Brian and Dillon both had crashes on this segment, I think they both really wanted the Rabobank KOM on that stage. 🙂

Next we rode over to Stage 2, Moto. This was a super fast and fun downhill run, it was wide open all the way to the finish. This stage I rode blind and definitely held back quite a bit not knowing if there were any water bars that could kick me…I should have just pinned it!!! From here we rode over to Purple Skirt, this was my Favorite trail!! I told Stosh to watch out for a straight-a-way as you would do a super tight right hand turn and not to blow through the corner….Well I didn’t follow my advice and I missed the damn turn, I was having way too much fun going fast! HAHA!! I ended up having one of the faster times on that stage even though I had to get off and run back up to the trail..Dang it!! The last stage of the day was Casper, it was another stage that I ran blind. It turns out I was never quite in the right gear all day long and ended up off and running a couple of areas in this stage too. After day 1, we had done just under 5000 ft of climbing and about 29 miles. After day one I was in 3rd place, but only by 4 seconds to Lauren and 8 seconds in front of Caroline. It was a pretty fun and tiring day!! We headed back to our killer house that Rabobank sponsored for the night.

The view from our room!
The sunset from the deck

Day 2 started with one of the tightest stages out there, Forest History. Dumb dumb do do here was immediately off the bike in the wrong gear and had to run up the first steep pitch, I was in the totally wrong gear and didn’t want to break my chain. Doh! I got back on the bike and pedaled as fast as I could trying to make up some time, I made all of the super tight switchbacks, which I hadn’t in the practice runs, so I was stoked on that. Then I was just so excited I was going a little too fast and my back tire slid off the trail, so I just had to point the bike off the single track to avoid crashing..I again had to get off and run back up to the single track. We then headed over to Big Dipper, that trail was super fun, but the climb out was hot and steep! After that we went over to Hi Chutes which was another one of my favorite trails, super fast and wide open!! When we were pedaling out, I heard some people down at the river and went down to check it out, there was an awesome little swimming hole so I didn’t hesitate to jump right in!! It was a hot day out there. After the girls, Karin and Monika and I hung out for a bit it was time to climb all the way back up to the cars. Day 2 finished with just under 5000 ft of climbing and about 29 miles again!! So we were pretty close to 10k and 60 miles for the weekend, it was pretty stellar!

Overall it was a super fun weekend of riding trails that are totally different from what we ride. They are challenging in a way that you have to ride smooth and slower and not make mistakes. Clearly, I made a ton of mistakes, but I didn’t have any crashes so that was good! I ended up 5th on the podium for the weekend, not too bad considering all of my mistakes. Megan and Abbi were on point this weekend totally killing it and Lauren, Caroline and I were pretty close together time wise. Brian ended up on the top step for the weekend with a pretty solid gap behind him. He is absolutely destroying the field this year, I am so pumped for him!! Dillon ended up just off the podium in 6th place in the pro men’s field in a pretty stacked class, this kid is going places!!!! My teammate Evan made the podium in 3rd place, and Anker had his second podium for the season in 2nd place!! 🙂

The first of the California Enduro Series was a blast! It was up in Reno, NV on Peavine mountain and it had more rocks than one could ever hope for! Brian, Dillon and I got up there the day before so we could pre-ride. We were only going to do a few stages but with the help of our good friend Jon Wilson, he shuttled us up a couple of times so we ended up riding the whole course. When we were on stage 5 Brian and Dillon showed me a line through the rocks that I hadn’t seen before so I practiced it a couple of times and knew that it would be the fastest as long as I didn’t mess it up!!

  Wilson

Once we were done riding we headed over to Great Basin Bikes to get our bikes dialed by our favorite mechanic, Steven Lewis! We hung out there for a while talking and working on bikes…wait I just hung out with my Boo Bear and we went upstairs to roll…we don’t work on bikes!! 🙂

Race day was quickly upon us and we were excited to get the day started. We had my whole family out there supporting us in their Marin/Rabobank jerseys, it was AWESOME! Not only was my teammate Evan Geankoplis there, but my other Marin teammates Kyle Warner and Jake and Nye Yackle were there as well. It was great to have all of us out there on our Attack Trails!

Dillon and I

The Team! (Mom, Malvin, Dad, Me, Evan, Anker and Cappie)

The race starts with about an hour plus or minus climb up to stage 1. I took my time as Brian and Dillon charged up ahead (I later found out they were the first two to the top of the mountain!) and when I looked back I had about 70 riders behind me! No pressure!! I kept telling myself not to goof up on anything so I didn’t bog up all of the riders behind me…I might of thought about it once or twice just for fun!!

Brian and I starting off together!

At the top of Stage 1, I was lined up with Lauren Gregg, Katerina Nash and Caroline Dezendorf. We were all trying to figure out ways to slow Katerina down so that we were all on a level playing field seeing how she is a Four-Time Olympian, 3X UCI World Cup Cyclocross winner & UCI XC World Cup winner in 2013!!! We figured taking air out of her tires, putting her in flats and locking out her suspension would help us out a bit. 🙂 It was pretty cold at the top with the wind blowing so we were all trying to jump around and stay warm. Needless to say my legs were screwed on that first segment, I just couldn’t get them to move!! I figured it must have been the same for everyone so we were all in the same boat. I was smooth, but not the fastest, but that was okay because I didn’t blow a turn that I have blown a thousand times!!

Me on stage 2

Next we rode up to stage two, I knew on this stage I needed to be smooth up top and pedal my brains out at the end…so that is exactly what I did. When I got to the bottom of stage 2 I saw Lauren who said she had a flat and tried to pump it up during the stage. That was going to be the case for a lot of people that day, there were just so many sharp rocks everywhere! I got some more water and just as I was about to transition up to Stage 3 I saw Brian and Dillon already at the top of Stage 4!! Holy cow, they were ripping!! When we were up the top of Stage 3 we were all heckling everyone going through the first few tight switchbacks you could see everyone failing at. It was pretty much inevitable for everyone to screw up, I mean the pressure!! HAHA! Katerina was in front of me again at this stage and she told me not to make fun of her too much. 🙂 She is a funny gal! Stage 3 is pretty twisty at the beginning and then fast off camber near the end, so again I was smooth and slower at the top and then pedaled as fast as I could without clipping any rocks on stage 3!

We then headed up to Stage 4, one of the longest pedaling sections with a pretty descent little up hill in the middle of it. Last year I blew up trying to get through that hill and then I had nothing left at the end when I really needed it so my plan was different this year. I hit the climb at a descent pace, but tried not to expend too much energy. Then as it went down hill for a bit I tried to save some energy for the big push at the end. As soon as I hit the pedaling section I was off! I pedaled pretty hard, again trying not to hit any rocks and I just hoped nobody was coming down stage 5 because I pedaled super hard at the end and I wasn’t stopping!

Off I went to the last stage. This was the stage I was looking forward to the most, I was so slow on it last year and a fellow friend caught me at the end. I knew I had my lines perfect, all I had to do was carry my speed. I got to the top and Caroline was there waiting. She asked if I wanted to go so I just said ok, let’s do this! When I hit the first rock garden I could hear everyone cheering for me and I heard Brian’s voice right away, dang he was fast!! I stayed focused and took the line I had only just practiced the day before and I totally nailed it, I was feeling fast so I kept going through the other rock waterfalls. Now I just had to pedal super fast down the hillside, well I was pedaling so fast when it came to turning left onto the last twisty section I skidded sideways all the way through the turn…I yelled, “Coming in hot!!” to the poor volunteer there, I’m pretty sure I scared him a little bit! I pedaled pretty hard through the snake turns and near the end I felt a little wobbly, I thought it was because of the sand but it was clear after I pedaled through the finish I now had a flat tire!!!! Holy crap, that was lucky!!!! I tried to pump it up but more air was coming out…so I was looking around the tire and sure enough there was a huge sidewall tear! I was just thanking baby jesus that it happened at the end of my run!!! I ended up walking out about 20 minutes where my friends Allison and Aaron picked me up and took me back to the venue.

Me on Stage 5

I knew I did the best I could, so all we had to do was wait for results. Jake came up to me and asked, “So, are you going to be on the podium today?” and my response was, “Well I had fun, stayed on the bike and did the best I possibly could, so if that lands me a podium spot then that would just be a bonus!” It’s honestly how I felt, of course everyone wants to be on the podium, that’s why we race, but I just want to do my best and be confident in that. Brian and Dillon both said they had clean races and of course, they were the first two done!! With some snafu’s in timing they said they had the results but they were going to cut out Stage 5 because they were having issues pulling the results for that stage. I was devastated!! I knew that was my best stage and that I probably pulled some time out. Well it was off to waiting for another hour for results, but it turns out they were able to get Stage 5 in there!!! Yahoo!! There were so many people around the results board, but I happened to be right in front, so when they promoters finally stepped away, I was looking for the Pro Women’s times…looking looking, WTH, I WAS 2nd place to Katerina!! I had to double check to make sure that was really my name up there!! Sure enough, Stage 5 was my best stage. It was the only stage that Katerina didn’t win, and I won it!! I was so happy!! Next I was trying to find Brian’s name, low and behold, he was right on top of the podium!! As for Dillon, he tied for 2nd with Kyle Warner!! My teammate Evan was right off the podium in 6th place and our Rabobank sponsor Anker was on the top step of his very first race ever!! Woo hoo! We pretty much couldn’t have asked for a better day!!

From left, Amy Morrison (4th), Brianne (2nd), Katerina Nash (1st), Monika Renk (3rd), Lauren Gregg (5th)

Brian’s Podium!

From left, Kyle Warner (3rd), Doug Thayer (1st), Dillon Santos (4th), Marco (not pictured, 2nd)

Anker on the top step!!

I’m so excited for this year and the good things to come. I’m learning new things every day on the bike and I can only go up from here. As my mom puts it, I just need to “Stay on the bike!”. We couldn’t be blessed with more awesome supporters this year with Marin Bikes, Rabobank, Skratch Labs, Burnham Coaching, Cupertino Bikes, G-Form, Twin Six, Fox, Smith, Grifall Chiropractic, Dumonde Tech, Spoke Consulting and Butler Team Carmel! We can’t wait to keep making them proud!! Next on the calendar is the Wildwood Enduro.

Monday morning’s commute to work was a sad one, as I saw race vans and cars with their bikes and bags all packed and headed home after a long, fun, fantastic weekend at the Sea Otter Classic. This year had to be one of my most memorable years at the Sea Donkey compared to all of the years past. It was my first year as a Marin/Rabobank sponsored rider and my first time racing Pro and I got to start the fun off right.

RACE DAY!

I woke up bright and early Thursday morning for Race Day! I was lying in bed facebooking, or bluefacing as my boyfriend, Brian, calls it (because when it’s night time and I’m on Facebook, he says the light makes my face blue). I heard someone walking down the hall and assumed it was our friend and was ABSOLUTELY SURPRISED to see my dad in the doorway!!! Turns out he wanted to surprise me for my first official Pro race at Sea Otter. He drove down the night before and slept in his car in our driveway. It was definitely the highlight of my weekend.

It was time to race and I knew it didn’t matter how I did today, I was so happy to have my biggest fan there to support me! I lined up for the first stage of the Enduro, which was on the Downhill course, and was so excited to see a bunch of ladies that I inspire to be like all lined up ready to race. We had a pretty stacked class with EWS (Enduro World Series) racers, Anneke Beerten, Hannah Barnes – the Enduro Podium winners from last year – Teal Stetson-Lee, Kelli Emmit, Legend Marla Streb, CES (California Enduro Series) shredders Lauren Gregg, Rachel Throop, and DH World Cup racer Micayla Gatto, along with so many other awesome women!

It was so nice to have my Attack Trail for the downhill course. The bike was dialed for the race and my new Rabobank wheels helped me pedal a clean run on this stage – even after only one practice run. I then headed up to stage 2. I knew in this stage I was going to have to be fast, but accurate, there were a lot of sandy corners that could make or break your race. I went as fast as I could, while knowing I had to look out for those turns and ended up catching Hannah Barnes halfway down, she was super nice and pulled over for me to have a clean pass. They had the finish on a slight uphill, right after you got off the singletrack, so I just pedaled as hard as I could standing up! I thought I might fall over when I crossed the line.

Next we headed up to stage 3. I got to ride with Anneke and Hannah for a little bit and asked as many questions as I could. I have to know all their secrets so I can be as fast as them! smile When it was go time on Stage 3, the segment started with quite a bit of pedaling, more than I remembered and I felt a bit blown out from pedaling so hard on stage 2, but I made it through the run clean and unscathed. When I got to the bottom of that run, I started heading back up to the track for the final stage, which was on the Dual Slalom course. On this transfer stage I got to catch up with Marla Streb, this is one of the best things about Enduro! You have time to get to know the other amazing women that you are racing with. There isn’t really any other bike competition where you get to talk in between racing, with Enduro you have a lot of time to talk and learn more about the other racers.

The last stage was the Dual Slalom stage, everyone had to ride it blind. I can’t say I was excited to ride it with no practice on the course, the only thing that made it better was knowing the other ladies had to ride it with the same impediment. It was the first time I had ever gone down a DS course and it was actually REALLY FUN!! If I had had one practice run, I think it would have been even more enjoyable. I might have to add Dual Slalom to my racing next year!

After it was done my dad met me at the bottom and I couldn’t stop telling him how much fun I had out there. I raced my hardest, and I didn’t have any crashes, plus I got to know a lot of amazing ladies all at the same time.

When results time came around, I was SUPER STOKED to see that I earned a solid 6th place! I couldn’t have asked for a better finish with that group of gals. Overall, I was just so excited to share that awesome day with my Papa there! I got to spend the afternoon meeting some of the other Marin athletes and team members that I hadn’t met in person yet, EVERYONE was so nice, I felt like I had known them all for years. Then I got to spend a day with the infamous Little Bellas taking them out for rides, showing them the different components on the bikes, introducing them to pros and getting them excited about being on bikes! Man did they wear me out, in a great way.

Sunday was all fun and games for me, it was the first time I haven’t raced the XC course in years and it was great to be able to support Brian in his race. I dropped my bike off with Gravy in the morning so I didn’t have to carry it around the venue. When I came back I wasn’t sure if he still had my bike… the one I thought was mine was sparkling clean!!!! He said he hoped I didn’t mind, he gave the #BrizzlyBear some love, cleaned her all up and tuned her up. Heck YES! Gravy is the absolute best!!!! Super stoked to be part of such a great team!

Sea Otter 2015 has to be one of the best in the books. It was a little bittersweet seeing all of the bikes leaving this morning, but it just means I have a lot to look forward to next year. Thanks #SeaDonkey, it’s been real.