Now I'm not hating on this just to hate. I want to get a few things out of the way before I go off on a rant. I feel this is also important enough that it deserves to have its own thread aside from the 'Sticky' Sea Otter thread.
Just so you know who this is coming from, I race pro DH and slalom, had an awesome run today and ended up in the middle of the pack. No regrets, I tried my ass off and I'm happy with my effort.
I think the Sea Otter DH is an awesome test of fitness and a riders ability to carry speed on a course. The jumps are challenging to do quickly and the few corners that there are seem cool to me.
Now for the bad.
The downhill is a joke because I paid (yes, I paid, not my team) for a race that I was training for and wanted to have an accurate gauge of where I was at coming into the season. If you look through the www.vitalmtb.com site you can see the timing girl, who looked like she would have been happier updating her facebook account than timing the gals or dudes crossing the line.
The event cost me $90 to enter, by far the most expensive single race run event I have ever attended, world cups included.
To charge this much for a course that has not changed much in years with what could be the most inaccurate form of timing is ridiculous. Aside from the cost, it should be embarrassing for the event to have such lax timing at what they call one of the premier races in the world.
Now, aside from the timing, the course could use some updates. The damn thing is tired, and old, and it is just the same. This is minimal effort at its worst. An event as important as the Sea Otter should strive to be progressive and fun. The event is just 'good enough' for people to keep coming back and that is a sad attitude to have. There are lines to ride the course so long I can't even imagine waiting in them in the amateur categories.
Everyone is racing the same damn course, I know, and the racing is always good. But it could be better. A lot better. I hope some of the organizers start to take note, and it could be better for everyone in the end. It might be hypocritical when I say I will probably go next year, but rest assured, it is more for the $8 of fried squid in nick-nack village than for the dh course.
Just so you know who this is coming from, I race pro DH and slalom, had an awesome run today and ended up in the middle of the pack. No regrets, I tried my ass off and I'm happy with my effort.
I think the Sea Otter DH is an awesome test of fitness and a riders ability to carry speed on a course. The jumps are challenging to do quickly and the few corners that there are seem cool to me.
Now for the bad.
The downhill is a joke because I paid (yes, I paid, not my team) for a race that I was training for and wanted to have an accurate gauge of where I was at coming into the season. If you look through the www.vitalmtb.com site you can see the timing girl, who looked like she would have been happier updating her facebook account than timing the gals or dudes crossing the line.
The event cost me $90 to enter, by far the most expensive single race run event I have ever attended, world cups included.
To charge this much for a course that has not changed much in years with what could be the most inaccurate form of timing is ridiculous. Aside from the cost, it should be embarrassing for the event to have such lax timing at what they call one of the premier races in the world.
Now, aside from the timing, the course could use some updates. The damn thing is tired, and old, and it is just the same. This is minimal effort at its worst. An event as important as the Sea Otter should strive to be progressive and fun. The event is just 'good enough' for people to keep coming back and that is a sad attitude to have. There are lines to ride the course so long I can't even imagine waiting in them in the amateur categories.
Everyone is racing the same damn course, I know, and the racing is always good. But it could be better. A lot better. I hope some of the organizers start to take note, and it could be better for everyone in the end. It might be hypocritical when I say I will probably go next year, but rest assured, it is more for the $8 of fried squid in nick-nack village than for the dh course.