UNITED RIDE ODYSSEY 2012 // Sea Otter Classic

More info : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Morewood-United-Ride/109445149150149

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It was a sunny and hot weekend for Sick Mick and Couscous at SeaOtter and talking about heat, Sick Mick was on fire! He qualified 1st at the dual slalom and Fabien was 12th.

They were both ready to ripe it. Fabien’s 8th final was against Kyle Strait. Fabien was on a very good run, they were elbow to elbow but on the last jump, Fabien’s derailler broke. Fabien was then ready to fight on his second round. He finished in front of Kyle Strait but it wasn’t enough. Sick Mick on the other hand won his 16th and 8th finals. He looked very fast. The quarter finals were against Cedric Gracia. Mick was leading when, on the last jump, his derailler broke too. He then had to make quite a lot of time on the second round. He finished in front of Gracia but the time lost from the mechanical issue wasn’t enough.

Mick and Fabien were disappointed since they had the speed and felt very good on their bikes. Finally it’s Kyle Strait who took the win of the race and it’s too bad when we know that Fabien was able to beat the winner without a mechanical. They were then more than ready to pin it for the Downhill.

Sunday morning was foggy and a bit cooler. Mick’s start was pretty early and he did a time of 2:03 which put him in the hot seat for a while. The last riders were pretty fast but only Jared Graves, specialist on this track, beat Mick’s time by only 0.5 seconds. Fabien did a good run considering his mistake and finished 13th.

It was the first time a rider of the team went on the podium at Seaotter and with a 2nd place, Mick Hannah finished just in front of Aaron Gwin, the 2011 world cup champion. With a 2nd place in DH and a 5th place in Dual, Mick has been the best rider at SeaOtter.

With the weekend ending up on a podium, the team is very happy and can’t wait for world cup #2.

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Bon weekend sous le soleil californien à la Sea Otter pour Sick Mick et Couscous qui ont participé au Dual et à la Descente.

Mick Hannah était déchaîné et fait le meilleur temps des qualifications au dual. Fabien quant à lui fait le 12eme temps. Fabien réussit à passer le premier tour du dual et rencontre Kyle Strait en 8ème de finale. Il fait un très bon run, ils étaient au coude à coude quand sur la dernière table Fabien brise son derailleur!

Quant à Mick, il gagne ses 16ème et 8ème de finale avec des runs plus rapides les uns que les autres. Le quart de finale s’est joué contre Cedric Gracia. Mick était devant quand son dérailleur à cassé lui aussi. Il devait ratrapper le temps perdu et était prêt à tout donner. Il termine devant Gracia lors de son 2ème run mais avec une avance trop réduite pour regagner le temps perdu.

Mick finit donc 5ème et Fabien 12ème. Dommage car ils avaient la vitesse et ils avaient de bonnes sensations sur leurs vélos.

C’est dans la brume et sous des températures plus agréables que la descente s’est déroulée. Avec un chrono de 2:03, Mick fait un temps de référence que seul Jared Graves, spécialiste de la Sea Otter, a réussit à battre pour juste 0.5 seconde. Mick finit donc 2ème juste devant Aaron Gwin le vainqueur de la coupe du monde 2011. Fabien termine 13ème malgré une grosse erreur, son meilleur résultat ici à la SeaOtter.

C’est donc le premier podium à la Sea Otter du team avec une belle deuxième place de Mick Hannah, pilote le plus polyvalent du week end!