Sea Otter Sunday; XC and OUT!

World Famous Vegas Bob, rocking his Carbide.























Bert Blanchette about to drop his entire field on Super-D. It happens fast, pay attention!














Vanessa and Dawn after the race
































The new 661 helmet.


















A sweet Mag-21 with a carbon sticker on it. This was billed by Specialized as their high end, S Works carbon fork for high end mtn bikes MANY years ago. This one was on a second generation Stumpjumper that someone was still riding!












































Chris Sheppard, former mechanic for the Titus/X-Fusion team. I hated this guy when he worked there, but after seeing a whole new Chris at Sea Otter (he works for a different team now) he was a totally different guy. Happy and having fun, his new team clearly is doing something his old one was not.
















Sunday would be our final day at the race. No Monday layover for tearing the KENDA tent down (Jim brought several of the KENDA employees this year to help out, so we only spent the daylight hours assisting in the booth), so we were prepared to head out after Vegas Bob and Super-Vanessa's XC races. Lyd and I once again hiked up into the course, squatting near some singletrack for photos of them...and for Lyd to use as advertising shots. She has such a difficult time getting sponsored athletes to send her ANYTHING, she has decided to be proactive...so she bought an $1,100 dollar camera and spent her vacation (on her own dime) attending Sea Otter so she could take her OWN photos. All three of the next ads in bike mags will be using those shots! Roger hung out and helped at KENDA, and we all hung out at Tomac until everyone finished up their race.




Vanessa rode what many men couldn't. This right turn to hill transition took out many seasoned vets. When I look at the series of pix we took at this moment, her form is startlingly good.








POB and his wife came by to visit and talk shop, but VB was TAPPED OUT from his 40 mile Battaan Death March of a XC race. Timari Pruis stopped by too, on her way to the 24 hrs. Of Idyllwild.












Timari "Booty" Pruis. Racing for Pivot Cycles this year, she is a killer on the endurance mtb circuit, with more 1sts than..well...you know.






We gathered up our stuff and headed for the exit around noon. I made one last stop to say goodbye to my home-slice Ed Fonda at Voler, saw Heidi Bowen (down boys) and made one last stop to see EJ, then TOMAC! We were originally slated to get Taylor's Primer DH frame at the race..then we found out otherwise. Turns out, the guys actually gave us one of their Euro-Pro squad guy's Large black frames, so I waited while they strippd it down for me to take home. Again, anyone who wants to buy a mountain bike and actually USE it really needs to get a TOMAC. The service we received from Joel and the guys was second to none, and a welcome surprise.





Notice the custom sleeves on VB's XC jersey. He pulled the stitching on the sleeves to make them feel more t-shirt-like!





We made our way to parking lot EORE 5 or something like that, then showered down and rolled south to Burbank...a six hour drive that Roger made in record time. I think he taked driving lessons from James and Bob! Lyd and I hung out for the evening and drank some great CLAVO vineyards cabernet in Julie's backyard and collapsed. Monday we walked to the Kenneth Village, the Brand Ave Library, then met Don "The Magic Wand" Burke for a pile of fried fish at the Burbank Bar and Grill. the rest of Monday would see us walking the streets of Burbank getting drunk on margaritas...mostly at The Blue Room. The next morning we flew home, and reality quickly set in. I was back home...........in Ohio. It's like having a sweet new key to an empty room.