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Sea Otter and the Day Jeannie Longo
Scrubbed My Toilet
By Sabine
It's springtime, the beginning of
the race season and time for Sea Otter, the self proclaimed "Unabashed
Celebration of the Bicycle." While the Sea Otter is a big circus
of an event, it's still a cool event. I am so fortunate to have
this event in my backyard. The Sea Otter is why I am here writing
this article today.
My first visit to the Sea Otter was in 1997. I was playing league roller hockey at the time and in 1997 the Sea Otter still featured rollerblading events. I had heard about the event through my hockey buddies, so I headed over there to check it out. I couldn't help but notice all these muddy dirty mountain bikers with blood dripping from their knees, and they were all smiling. Here they were, cold, muddy, scraped up, and they were all smiling. I had to get in on whatever they were doing. I saved my pennies and a month or so later, bought my first mountain bike, a used Stumpjumper. I took that bike to the trails in Fort Ord and I had this wonderful knack for falling over even while riding along on the flats. I couldn't climb, couldn't descend, fell if the breeze barely blew past me, but I was hooked. I fell in love with the sport and I haven't played a whole season of hockey since.
I entered my first race a few months later.
It was horrible. I fell off a little bridge into a culvert on the
last lap, but I finished and I had a blast. I returned to Sea Otter
the following year to race my first Sport race, and I've been back
every year since then. Each year something funny, silly, fantastic
and memorable has happened, but the year I remember best is the
year Jeannie Longo scrubbed my toilet.
Each Sea Otter year, my house is packed
with visiting friends and their bikes. In 1999, the call went out
for host housing for a women's team from France. The team included
Jeannie Longo, so I immediately said "yes." The rest of the
team was composed of young French female racers, and so my boyfriend
immediately said "yes" as well. I assumed they would all be sleeping
in the downstairs room and my good friends would sack out in the
room upstairs. I spent most of the days leading up to Jeannie's
arrival cleaning house. But, being a sweep-under-the-rug kind of
cleaner, I only meticulously cleaned the downstairs portion of the
house.
Jeannie arrived a few days before Sea
Otter while I was at work. A friend let her in, and she took one
look at the one bedroom with two beds and shook her head. She would
not share a room with her young teammates. Instead, she went door
to door in my neighborhood and asked for lodging. Now, I am unfortunately,
a bad neighbor. I spend all my free time riding my bike and none
of it mowing my lawn or making nice with my neighbors. And while
Jeannie may be well-known in France and the rest of Europe, she
was just another tiny crazy Frenchwoman to my stranger neighbors.
Needless to say, she struck out.
I was stuck at work and frantic, because
this little Frenchwoman was running around a Seaside neighborhood
asking for lodging. I hurried home and rearranged the living conditions
so that Jeannie has the upstairs room all to herself, and my friends
were relegated to the living room floor. Jeannie immediately set
out arranging the room to her needs. There was too much light in
the room, so she duct taped a blanket over the window. She even
duct taped the little red light on the computer. She positioned
her bed so that the head of it was facing magnetic north. And she
cleaned. Admittedly, the room wasn't as clean as I would have liked.
Had I known, I might have cleaned a little more. As it was, she
spent most of her first day vacuuming, cleaning, shining, dusting
and yes, even scrubbing my toilet.
Finally, Jeannie settled in and took over
my home. She went out for training rides during the day and cooked
for her team at night. The team ate lots of pasta, yogurt, nuts,
figs, dates and vegetables. She preferred organic foods and drank
the water she cooked the vegetables in to obtain the vitamins lost
in cooking. The team's food portions were carefully metered, and
she even slapped the hand of one girl who reached for an extra slice
of cheese. The girls frequently complained of hunger and looked
forward to ice cream that Jeannie promised them they could have
after Sea Otter.
Jeannie got to know, and I think developed
a crush on, my boyfriend Alan. She enjoyed talking to him
about bikes and racing. She told him, "I zink you are a sadist"
upon learning that he was racing singlespeed at Sea Otter but added,
"ahhh..you have ze look of a vinner." Needless to say, Jeannie was
right and Alan did win his race. She was so happy for him that she
baked him some Zuchinni bread. His bread. I was sternly reminded
that it was His bread, not mine.
Sea Otter was a big commotion between
racing, houseguests and volunteering, but eventually it was all
over. Jeannie didn't race as well as she wanted to, but she enjoyed
her stay with us. She left us some autographed pictures and a French
Cycling Union t-shirt as thanks. She said she was feeling her age
and that perhaps she was too old to compete anymore. We waved goodbye,
and she had a very eventful trip to the airport (that's a whole
other story). Jeannie was wrong about one thing though...she wasn't
too old to compete anymore. Two years later, at the age of 42, Jeannie
Longo won the 2001 World Time Trial Championships, and she
hasn't retired yet.
1999 Sea Otter was a great year,
but the other years had their moments too. Someday, maybe I'll tell
you about the time I spit on Filip Meirhaeghe. But no time
for that now, I have to get ready for the 2002 Sea Otter and whatever
fantastic memories it throws my way.
Jeannie Longo is the most accomplished
bike racer in history. She is an Olympic gold medal winner, 13-time
world champion, multiple national champion and world hour record
holder. View Jeannie's
palmares.
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