Local rider not slowed by Father Time at Sea Otter Classic

There’s no stopping the hands of time – we merely go along for the ride.
But nobody says we have to go slowly.
Stephen Cleeton, 50, and Joe Fabris, 54, were the only riders in their over-50 division Friday in the rough-and-tumble dual slalom mountain bike race at the Sea Otter Classic. The race is one of the most spectator-friendly events at the four-day bicycle festival at Laguna Seca Recreation Area.
Fabris, of Capitola, discovered mountain bikes 10 years ago after becoming frustrated with the injuries he was suffering as a runner.
Cleeton, of Morgan Hill, was a BMX pro in the 1970s but gave it up to focus on his engineering major in college. He fell in love with the sport all over again after his firstborn child started riding.
Both racers bubbled with teenaged exuberance after completing their two head-to-head runs – Cleeton beat Fabris in both heats – congratulating each other at the finish line and wishing they could ride the course again.
“This course is so much fun, but the only time we get to ride it is during race week,” said Cleeton, director of engineering for Juniper Networks in Sunnyvale. “So I’m actually upset right now that I won’t get to do another run. I’m really bummed.”
Neither man pretends age isn’t catching up to them, but both say they’ve been rejuvenated by racing mountain bikes into middle age. The trick, they say, is to know and respect your limitations.
“I tried to ride real hard when I was in my mid-30s, still trying to compete with the 20-year-olds, and I got hurt a lot,” Cleeton said. “Finally I realized this is something I want to be able to do a long, long time, so I backed off a bit.
“But it used to be that I’d have to crash before something hurt,” he added. “At 50, I don’t have to crash anymore. If I land crooked on a jump, I’m probably going to feel it the next day.”
Fabris, co-founder of Plus 3, a social network that connects people with corporate sponsors to raise money for charity, says mountain biking is far more compatible with his 50-something body than running.
“If I go out and run hard one day, I’m out for a week,” Fabris said. “The beautiful thing about biking at my age is you can ride hard one day, then come back the next day and ride again. I’ve found that it’s a really nice way to stay fit as I get older.”
He notices another major difference: As a bike racer, he’s getting faster as he becomes more skilled and knowledgeable about riding.
“I was getting slower as a runner, but there are so many skills to learn on a bike that you can still get faster,” he said. “You learn how to take turns faster; you learn how to jump. … It all feels exciting and new, and it doesn’t have so much to do with cardio.”
Cleeton laughs when asked about injuries, noting that he broke “almost every appendage on my body” in his younger years.
“And what I’ve discovered is that when you get older, your body doesn’t bend anymore – it breaks,” he said. “It’s important to stay within your bounds, but there are always going to be times when you try to push those bounds. Crashing is very common.”
Both men ride as often as they can – Fabris says he tries to do something on his bike almost every day – and they travel to find competition.
“The rule at my house is that I can go anywhere I want to race, as long as it’s a place that also has good shopping for my wife,” Cleeton said. “She’ll be shopping tomorrow while I’m here racing.”
Fabris says the only issue that causes his wife to roll her eyes is the collection of bikes he has amassed since switching sports.
“I’ve got about 15 of them now – one for every type of riding,” he said with a laugh. “She’s always asking me, ‘How many more bikes to you need?’ And my answer is always the same. ‘Just one more.’”