Sea Otter Classic Sunday Report

Sunday arrived WAY too damn early again. We had EVERYONE racing today, and it started well before 8a.m. I was up and out by 6a.m., and went straight to work tearing down Randy's road bike so I could build his sparkly new TITUS MODENA road frame. The KENDA XFusion team mechanic was clearly upset, but unfortunately for him I would destroy him if he said anything else to me this weekend I found unsavory. You know it's a problem when all of your riders ask permission to beat his ass before the close of the first day. Tiny little-bitty men always have mouths larger than their asses, geez.



The XC races all started by 7:30 today, starting with the Expert men. Fuzzy and Darter were off first, followed by Heidi and Vanessa. Randy and King James rolled out around 8:30 for the Sport/Beginner classes. Fuzzy was on a loaner TITUS Racer-X in the awesome "Super-Pimp White" color, but the bike was a medium. It was too big, and despite a top ten start position, the Fuzz had to DNF after his first lap due to massive back cramps from the overstretched cockpit...that's right, I said "cockpit." Is that where all the chickens go to die? Was that cleaner than you thought it would be? :) He was on a small in Scottsdale and loved it, but that bike was not available for Sunday. It was certainly my fault, as he had a perfectly set up bike from another manufacturer that I asked him NOT to ride to better represent the sponsors. Sorry Fuzz, my bad all the way. Darter had a great race, and was on a loaner NINER that was a great bike for the often choppy course. King James rode the XL Racer-X that was destined for Bert, and he really enjoyed the comfort and efficiency the bike provided out of the box. A long time TURNER rider, he had a great race on a bike that proved to be much less finicky than his 4 pound wonder-Turner. I will admit that he was spotted weighing the factory Titus ride on a scale....some habits just won't die. Randy "The Enforcer" Rush was so busy dreaming up ways to feed his ex-wife to an African fresh water Croc (KRIKEY!) he almost missed his race. Between her and the neighboring team's mechanic, I was worried that someone would meet an untimely demise before the weekend. All that drama being the case, Randy still did a great job of dominating his Sport class on a devastating course, absolutely DROPPING all the sukkaz who tried to draft him to the finish. That was a hell of a demonstration of power!



The DH boys were due up at 10a.m., and the course had dried out a ton since Saturday. Taylor had equipped his bike with a fresh set of KENDA "King Of Traction" tires in anticipation of hip-deep mud. Not so, as the course had solidified and drained to perfection overnight thanks to hurricane force winds. With fresh 2.35 Nevegals in place, he flung himself down the course with abandon and finished off the leader by several seconds. His race was cleaner than Jay's, though. Flying through the course, Jay had come into the lower doubles waaaaaay too hot and clipped a re-bar reinforced course marker. Crashing horribly, Jay's back will be bruised for some time. He had told me earlier in the day he was NOT going to race, but apparently his need to R&D the new Sunline headset, stem, bars and saddle weighed heavy on his soul. Jay didn't look too good after the crash, but the super-bad-ass SUNLINE products survived without a scratch.




The ladies had great races. Vanessa placed top ten in a HUGE ladies field, the lrgest she has ever experienced. That comes on the heels of three days of racing. She placed 5th in Super-D, then 9th in Short track the day before. Heidi had
a killer race aboard her perfectly equipped 2005 Racer-X. She placed top 10 in her enormous xc class as well, having five times the typical amount of competition.




Roger came through big time this weekend, and is quickly becoming the backbone of Backbone. I want to personally thank Roger for all the help and support he provides to me (and thusly you guys) that I know I never even hear about. Randy's double-breasted-mattress-thrasher of a wife, KIM, also rocked the KENDA trailer this weekend. She utilized her "lumps" to devastate Jim Wannamakebabies's brain cells and manipulate every other vendor booth's operators for way too much free stuff. Damn, if I had boobs I'd already be retired. Frikkin' boobs. Dawn Lyons also drove up to hang out and help, and it was great to see her.
Randy and Kim's son, Trevor, raced beginner DH on Saturday in the torrential-tird-floater downpour. The rain fell like a cow pissing on a flat rock, and Trevor still managed a 19th place finish out of 135 riders in his class. Great job dude! can you say "sport?" :)

On another note, Jim Roff and Court were scheduled to race in Fruita, Colorado this weekend. I'll let ya'll know how that worked out as soon as I find out.