Sea Otter Classic preview '04
By Lee McCormack www.leelikesbikes.com
Last year's Sea Otter Classic tagline was "The unabashed celebration of the bicycle." Indeed, if you like bikes, the Sea Otter is a place to be. Racing covers the gamut from downhill to cross country to road. Fun rides take the family on some sweet trails. The expo area drips with new, cool stuff, and the pits swarm with the sport's top riders. Last year the Sea Otter drew 10,000 racers and 40,000 spectators over the period of four days, a turnout that demolishes NORBA Nationals and all but the burliest tractor pulls.
The bummer about all the people and all the events in a small area in a short period of time is the lines. If you race downhill or dual slalom as an amateur, prepare to wait. The lines for practice are phenomenal. After waiting more than an hour to get a single slalom run, you'll be thinking the Sea Otter is "The unabashed celebration of the wait."
Still, the Sea Otter sets the bar for major American race events. Come on out April 15-18 to race, check out cool stuff and see some of the world's best tear it up on some rad courses.
Dual
slalom "Red course ready."
"Blue course ready"
"Racers ready."
"BEEEP!"
The gate flies open.
Explode down the ramp. Lean into a flat left. Swing your bike over and skitter through a flat right. Pedal! Skim over a little triple. Scramble through an off camber left. Sprint straight down the hill. Dive into a 100-degree left berm. Pull two Gs, gaining speed the whole way. Sling out of the turn and float over a big triple. Dive into a perfectly sculpted 180-degree right. Rail your brains out. Pedal! Jump the big double and land in the 180 right. Feel your cheeks peel off your face as you fall, faster and faster, into this dirt corkscrew. Line up to the left, hop a hole, slam your brakes then square off a slippery right. Line up high. Survive the slick left. Straighten it out. Pedal! Jump over the dirt road. Hear that? That's the sound of silence. Braaaaap, your tires grab the back side. Fade left then slam the right berm. As you pop out of the berm, unweight and swing your bike like a pendulum into the flat left. Pedal! When you hit the monster triple step-up, pump the first face and suck up the second two. Touch down on the top, already pedaling. From here it's a full-on drag race. PEDAL!!! Cross the line. Wipe the snot off your face. But leave the huge smile.
No matter how long you waited in line, which class you're racing or whether you just got eliminated, the Sea Otter dual slalom course will stoke you. If you're a slalom expert the course and competition will challenge you. If you've never ridden slalom, it'll blow your mind. It's like taking all the cool feelings of a single track descent -- railing corners, pumping bumps, soaring over obstacles -- throwing them into a pot and and boiling them down to their essence. Slalom is pure fun.
Setup tip: Run either a short-travel suspension bike or a hardtail. Run a very short stem (50 mm) and lower your seat all the way. Rain is common, so make sure you bring tires with open knobs. Candidates: WTB Moto Raptor 2.24, Maxxis Minion. Some racers swear by flat pedals so they can dab in the corners; others demand the quickness of clips. Run whichever you're used to.
Training tip: For the ultimate practice, ride the sweet dual slalom course at Sand Hill Ranch in Brentwood. www.sandhillracing.com. If you don't have access to a dedicated slalom training facility, hit up your local dirt jumps and berms. Practice with your race setup. Remember: The faster you are, the more you get to ride that amazing course.
Check out those
berms! Brandon Sloan thinks they'll be fun, but he's bummed that Lee will
wax him this year. Random side note: One of the coolest racers out there is Shawn Palmer, pro snowboarder, pro motocrosser and ex-pro mountain bike racer. He made an appearance last year -- in a t-shirt and jeans. Let's hope he injects his who-cares intensity again this year. Way back in the day, when pros practiced with amateurs, Palmer taught Lars his devastating gate start. Lars uses that technique to this day. Let's hope Lars and Lee make it to the finals this year, so we can find out who has the most snap!
Downhill
What Laguna Seca lacks in elevation, it makes up in creativity and quality course design. The Sea Otter DH isn't your steep, rocky, bone-breaking Northstar-type scene. The course combines flat turns, berms, jumps, drops, high speed and mega pedaling to reward great overall riders. You gotta know how to flow, but the pedaling makes the lactic acid flow, if you know what I mean. At last year's finish, most racers collapsed, and a few even puked. Yeah, great stuff!
You don't need a full downhill rig. Last year, I practiced on my slalom bike (3 inches of suspension), my cross country bike (5 inches) and my downhill bike (set at 6.7 inches). Each was faster in different sections. After much deliberation I chose to race the DH bike. I figured it'd be harder to pedal, but it would let me sit down and mash without worrying so much about my lines. My choice paid off; I passed my 30-second man at the beginning of the pedaling section, then slammed the hammer all the way down. I pedaled so hard I couldn't see straight, but my BigHit with 5th Element shock kept me on track. I could barely turn the pedals at the end, and I crossed the line in 2:58, a respectable second place in my expert age group.
Setup tip: Run a bike you can pedal. A big DH bike is fine, if you have immense power and you run fast tires. Last year I had awesome luck with a WTB Moto Raptor 2.4s with hard center knobs and sticky side knobs. These work whether the course is dry or wet. I ran a 2.35 IRC Kujo on my 24" rear wheel. That's a fine tire.
Training tip: Practice pedaling as hard as you possibly can for one minute. Rest. Repeat. Brutal but effective!
Bikercross
Take all the excitement of riding down a turny, jumpy course, then add three other racers, each hungry for a Sea Otter winner's jersey. For the racer, bikercross requires a whole new level of quickness, cleverness and deceit. For the spectator, it takes normal racing excitement and turns it up to 11.
A lot of people missed last year's event because the course was marooned out in Laguna Seca's motocross area. This year, the bikercross course will be front and center, near the dual slalom. With course designers and the top racers stepping it up each year, this should be a heck of a show.
Setup tip: Same as dual slalom, except you probably want fast-rolling tires. Candidates: WTB Mutano Raptors and Nano Raptors, Maxxis Larsens
Training tip: Ride the Sand Hill mountain cross course (Yes, they have one of those too.) Starts are super important in bikercross. Practice at your local BMX track or on your own with your friends. Also, practice passing and preventing passes. You can do this at the BMX track or on the trail. While you race stay alert and clever. In bikercross the fastest rider doesn't always win; it's often the smartest rider.
Cross
Country As you might expect, the Sea Otter cross country course is one of the best around. It's actually fun to ride whether you're racing or not. Expect a fast paved start, wide-open singletrack descents, brutal climbs, full-speed fire road descents, super flowy woods sections, long middle-ring ascents, crowd-pleasing obstacles and a superfast finish on the paved race track.
Setup tip: Depending on the weather, the dirt can be hard and fast or sloppy and slow. Bring your hardpack tires (WTB Epic Wolf, Nano Raptor) and your mud tires (WTB Moto Raptor; Maxxis High Roller, for example). Definitely bring a fender.
Training tip:
Of course, make sure you can ride the course distance at race pace. The
race starts on the paved road course. You blast up a hill then dip into a
singletrack, which bottlenecks like a fat genie. You need to do two things:
1) Train yourself to sprint as hard as you can for a couple minutes then recover
on the descent. 2) Devise a warmup routine you can do while you stage for
your race. Ideal: Your beautiful assistant brings a trainer to the start area.
Decent: Do one-legged lunges next to your bike. When the gun goes off you
must be ready to rock. Team Trail Head in full effect!
Our racers and supporters always appear in full force to rip it up and make merry. We'll be having a party Saturday night, April 17; stay tuned for details.
Here's some action from Sea Otters past:
Ready for the weekend: Lars
needs more stuff in the shop truck. 
Home sweet home: All set up.
Let's hope for nice weather! 
Sharp dressed man:
Lars gears up for downhill practice. 
All nice and cozy: Why do
you think we have a tree in our shop logo? 
We are the warriors: Lars
and Lee warm up before the downhill. 
Lee with last year's
second place in the DH. My, what a beautiful day! 
The family that suffers
together ... Lars and Karen warm up for some cross country action, tandem
style. 
Dogs aren't allowed at the Sea Otter.
Tierra isn't really a dog; she's a person. 
John Thomsen hammers the XC.
Here he finishes while Lars cheers (1.8M Quicktime).
Ooh, yeah. Now we're talking! More Sea Otter info
Directions, schedules, registration, etc: www.seaotterclassic.com