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Luna Chix, the new all-women's team funded by the fine folks at Clif Bar, held a beer n' cheese reception at their new team truck Friday, giving folks a chance to chat up team standouts Alison Dunlap and Marla Streb. The trailer is actually the old Schwinn "fifth wheel" rig, looking good in its new dark blue paint. Go buy a Clif Bar and support this new team!

Kelli Turcotte's fund-raising raffle and eBay auction event is pulling in impressive product this weekend (see the story here). Later this weekend we'll list the complete rundown of product that you can bid on at eBay, beginning March 27th. Just search for keyword "Sea Otter Classic" to find featured items, such as an autographed snowboard from April Lawyer, a snowboard from Santa Cruz, and autographed photos by top photogs, Tioga tires, RockShox forks, sunglasses... and much more great stuff. And it's all to raise money for Kelli's cancer treatment medical bills.

Bike Magazine held a party at the local Hyatt Friday night, featuring some videos and the band Lane Eight, fronted by Intense Tire's Jeff Holt. It was the biggest party this weekend, attended by many industry luminaries such as Hans Rey, whose newest adventure is running on OLN's "Adventure Quest."

The only current senior World Champion missing from this weekend's event was downhiller Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA, Vouilloz Racing Team).

Don't expect to see the debut of rising dual sensation Michal Prokop in his Be-One kit this weekend. We saw the Czech, and veteran team member Bas DeBever, at sushi Friday evening, and Prokop was sporting crutches after twisting an ankle.

One perk to being a journalist at the Sea Otter is taking hot laps on the infamous Laguna Seca track. Skip Barber's racing school is located here and its amazing driver-instructors treat a select group to races around the track in, believe it or not, stock Dodge Neons. You can imagine the fun of getting one of those sideways in 3rd gear on a corkscrew...

Why are all mountain bike videos the same? Can someone please make one that doesn't use the same tired format of lame jumps set to shite hard guitar music? We've seen three already this weekend and they don't seem to represent our sport in any sort of positive way.

GT's sole rider Brian Lopes (USA, Fox/GT) cruised up from his Laguna Beach home in style this weekend, piloting his sweet new "mystery machine." It's a lifted silver Ford van with massive wheels, and stocked with DVD, PlayStation, kitchen, GPS navigation, bed, leather... sort of a mini Shaun Palmer rig. Expect to see it at all this year's North American events.

Lopes' secret to his success in Sunday's Mountain Cross? Two types of pedals. "I ran one clipless pedal and one flat," he said. Seems the one-foot-down rule inspired Brian to run the unique set up and it seemed to work.

Don't expect Rune Hoydahl (NOR, Giant Bicycles) at too many more North American races. The vet rider, now married, will concentrate on Norwegian races, which actually give him more TV time than World Cups. He spent part of his winter in southern France and will spend more time in Spain until the Madrid World Cup.

Speaking of Spain, birthday-boy Cedric Gracia (FRA, Volvo-Cannondale) says that after skiing Chamonix all winter, he's now building a house in the tiny "nation" of Andorra. "No income tax," he told us.

— Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent