SEA OTTER CLASSIC, Monterey, California
The Sea Otter Classic takes place in the grounds of the famous Laguna Seca Raceway and is always a massive festival as much as a bike race. Its a great opportunity to meet many of the teams sponsors and allow tonnes of public to see the pro’s racing amongst all the other events that take place over the weekend.

My favourite event at Sea Otter has always been the Dual Slalom. The last time I raced slalom was at Sea Otter in 2007 so I was really looking forward to it. I was going to be riding a hardtail bike as we do not have a full suspension bike suitable for slalom racing, so I brought over my dirt jump bike from home ! I thought it would be ok, but the track was pretty rough and I struggled to get used to riding a little bike that was definitely more suited for Dirt jumping ! However I had fun and got through my first round against Clare Buchar, in my second I raced against Rachel Atherton and had to step up my riding, which I am pleased I managed however I made a couple of crucial mistakes in both rounds just pushing a bit too hard and sadly went out in the quarter finals. It made me remember how much I love racing slalom with someone racing right beside you ! Next time I’ll make sure I don’t try and ride my dirt jump bike and I’ll hopefully be up challenging in the final.

After a long day of Slalom the final day is downhill day. The Sea Otter downhill is not much of a downhill, lots of pedalling and jumps and lots more pedalling. Although its not much fun I have always done ok here and I was looking forward to a good result. I really enjoyed my race run, there was a great crowd and I was happy with my run, I was the last rider down the hill and ended up in 3rd only 0.5sec off the win, so it was pretty close racing. Melissa Buhl took the win, Rachel Atherton in 2nd. I was right on the time which is a good place to be starting the season.

Next stop is the first proper DH race on my new bike. Its the first stop on the US Pro Gravity Tour in Port Angeles, Washington.