Sea Otter Classic

Seamus here checking in with a report from Pro XCT #3. Sea Otter Classic... I assume anybody reading this knows about the event. Stunt shows, Down Hill racing, Cross Country and Road bike events and Vendors all in one place at the Laguna Seca Raceway. It certainly is a spectacular event because of all the events and the number of people (non-racers) that come to watch. A lot of our sponsor were there as well. Made my way around to check them out. Thanks to all the supporters of the GMA Team.

This year marks my 3rd year going to this event and I'm still impressed that this is the only event in the U.S. that incorporates all facets of racing in one place.

So i guess you want to here how the race went for me. Well the Short Track on Friday can be described as a good warm up for the Cross Country race on Sunday. The race officials tightened the course from last year and if you put nearly 80 pro men on a 1min 45sec course and your starting on the last two rows its inevitable that you GOING to get lapped. I felt great but with there being only one line on most of the course that wasn't bumped high grass there was very little passing to be had on my part. As you may have guessed, I got lapped.

The Cross Country went much better. We start on the race track so starting position wasn't as crucial as you had plenty of time to move up and position your self before hitting the dirt. The laps were barely 5k loops so the lap times for the top pro men were said to be 13-15 min!!. The race officials said the race was going to be 8 laps! With the course being nearly 60 percent pavement it was more of a road race criterium than a cross country mtb race, but you cant worry about that when you 1 of 110 races. That's exactly what I did not do. I treated it like a 5 lap race knowing that if i thought about doing 8 laps i would  not mentally be able to do it... especially on an uninspiring course. The start went off with out any calamities and avoided 2 major crashes on the pavement run in to the dirt. I moved my way up the group and positioned myself in the top 30. I was holding there for laps 1 and 2 until a sneaky stomach cramp on the start of lap 3 slowed me up for a little bit. That wasn't as bad because I  really didn't loose to many spots but trying to ride in no man land by myself on the windy pavement of the race track is what got me. I tried a super man effort and catch a group out in front of me and make up time, but I guess 4 riders drafting against 1 solo efforts doesn't equate to time being made up. I cracked a little on that lap and got passed by two small groups. I regained my race legs and settled into a group of 7 racers and ended up making it all the way to the finish on lead lap. So being in the fastest domestic mtb races of the year with one of the fastest fields of the domestic season, I guess finishing 49th out of 110 starters  (only 60 of those finishing on lead lap) is acceptable for a east coaster. The race went better than expected but not what i had hoped for. I'm happy that I made the trip, got to race hard and meet some GMA sponsors.

MASS Team Relay Race Report

Seamus tearing up the first of his five laps

So here we are again welcoming in the 2011 race season with a good old fashioned team relay. Everyone from the Giant- Mid Atlantic MTB Team were all together for the first time at this fun event. The weather threatened the Mid Atlantic region with rain and snow, but luckily weather passed through the day before with a snow rain mix leaving us with a nice mild day to race in and a greasy race course to test our legs and our sweet new team issue Giant Anthem X's equipped with fresh Geax tires and X-Fusion suspension...Super Smooth!!!. We looked really sharp with our matching bikes, kits and Oakley's (that came just in time) and the Team tent in the pits.

The day Started off with a Le Mons start. Since I'm the new guy on the team an executive decision was made by Matt, Jordon and Martin to make me do the run. I found this out the night before while fueling for fun with Matt at Holy Guacamole. While midst conversation he slips the news that I would be running at the start (side note: I'm pretty sure Matt has a genetic code that allows him to eat a burrito half his body weight). I put no thought into it and proceeded to watch Matt devour his burrito. Lets just say that the run was not just a quick sprint for out bikes and off the the trails. It turns out that it was about the last 1/4 half of the course. I'm still sore from it and am glad for that little team initiation thanks guys. Everyone performed really well keeping our lead all race by a small margin over the junior teams and came out as the team with the most amount of laps all thanks to Martin powering through the last lap with 10 seconds to spare to tag me off for my 5th and final lap giving us 17 total. It still wasn't enough points to get us the big "W" due to handicap points the juniors had from the start. Either way were glad to see those kid thrilled to have beaten the "big boys". They're the future of our sport and to see them having grins and smiles out there is awesome. Check out our pictures with them:

Matt racing through the pit area at the end of the lap

Jordan corniering

Martin keeping warm between laps

So the Mid Atlantic racing campaign has officially started for us at GMA. Big thanks to Mike Kuhn for an awesome event and fun day and all our sponsors for making our team possible for 2011!!

Photo cred goes to Don @ http://singlespeeder.smugmug.com/Mountain-Biking-Events