Sea Otter Classic

Any of you racer types or industry guys/gals going? Always love to hear about the unofficial kick-off event for the Mtb year

And just got a the latest Turner newsletter that says "We'll have a few new things to see so stop by booth number 618 to check it out". hmmm...

 

This is one of the events that I've got set aside for after I retire and have time to go north and do it.

 

Should have mentioned, it's just a month away, April 16-19..

And I believe one of the new Turner items is their Cyclosys (cyclocross bike). A Turner without suspension :yawn:

 

"Turner Suspension Bicycles"
"Pivot Cycles"
"Niner"

Branding quagmire!

Well, Niner appears to still have heels dug in. Countdown to Twentysevenfive...


I could easily warm up to a Turner hardtail. One with geo similar to the Kona Raijin or Nimble 9, that I can load up and bikepack with. Ti preferred, but any material would float my boat if it was a Turner. Guy's gotta dream, eh?

 

The family and I took a spontaneous long weekend to Monterrey Bay a year before I got into mountain biking.

It just so happened it was during the Sea Otter Classic that year. There were lots of bikes in the parking lot and we thought, "huh must be a bike race or something." We did the aquarium, went up to Santa Cruz and back down the coast we drove.

I can't believe what I missed now that I'm an avid MTB'er

Maybe in the next year or two I can convince the wife, "hey you remember Monterrey right? You want to go back right?"

 

I've never done Sea Otter, It was just really starting to ramp up at the same time I was doing the Cactus Cup out in Arizona...
Sea Otter has become a really big event and has picked up where the Cactus Cup left off...

 

I'm probably going and if all goes well I'm going to race XC on Sunday morning. Its a great time up there for sure.

 

I just booked my trip for this year (2017). Racing the Enduro and DH. (The first stage of the Enduro *is* the DH course - extra practice!).

 

Check you out......getting around and riding some new places.

 

Yup! Been looking at a few possibilities this season since I missed out on a lot last year. Got the wife to sit down and go through a bunch of options with me this morning. I'm also looking at the China Peak Enduro too. But those sell out quick, so waiting to book hotels and stuff until I can see if I can get a spot there.

 

Guess we better go hit a Fontana race or two then. Sea otter is nowhere near as technical as Fontucky, but the race environment and riding under pressure (real or perceived) is a different world.

 

I'm game. Saturday's are going to be a bit challenging now that one of my boys has started baseball for the next few months. But Sunday's should be easy.

 

Sundays don't work real well. You have to register for the race, and you're lucky to get in two, maybe three practice runs.

 

Went to Sea Otter only once; 4 or 5 years ago. It was a great event. Camping is SUPER expensive and you mostly have to pay for it 9 months in advance.
Oh, and that Turner CX bike is 2 years old. I'very demo'd one a couple of times, nice bike.

 

He doesn't have a game on March 4th or April 22nd. Either of those work with Fontana?

 

March 4 is good.

http://southridgeusa.com/

 

I'll be heading up with the GF. We've been going every year for the past five years. Besides Interbike...Sea Otter is the other event where you can see a bunch of new stuffs. Bring your sunscreen. I shaved my head right before I went...my head got hella burned. I'm going to spray my entire body this year.

 

In. Scheduleing looks favorible for the road race- if I do that, I'll ride some of the local trails while in the neighborhood.
It will be my second visit. The last time up was my 2nd Mtn bike race ever.

 

I'll be there racing enduro. I'll be camping during the week and then I'm not sticking around for hte weekend. I'm going to head to santa cruz to ride some local stuff there on the weekend.

 

New to the LA area and forum. Looking for riding buddies. ANyone going to Sea Otter this year? 2017. I'll be going. carpool!??

 

Hey @RyhnoMight ,
Welcome to imtbtrails man!
Not hitting up Sea Otter tis year but wanted to welcome you to the site. hope to hit some trails with you soon.

Mikie from Frazier Park

 

@RyhnoMight, welcome! Where are you from and what is riding like there?

 

@Mikie yea thanks, I'll hopefully find some trail buds soon. I live in Long Beach so still trying to find a relatively close trails system to hit up regularly. Possibly get in with some trail work. SC I just moved from Oklahoma (not from there) lol.. but riding there isn't all bad. Got old fast, a lot of flat XC type stuff which i'm really not totally into. Was big part of a trail crew regularly to improve the trails and made some pretty fun trails. I prefer some rocks, drops, some downhill to pickup speed but not the whole time because climbing back up the whole thing can be brutal unless it flows. Really just good flow and jumps are my favorite.

 

I should start contacting bike shops in the area to see if I can rent an ebike for the race.

 

Most definitely. But if you don't just take your current ride! I heard that Sea Otter Classic has one of the most chill DH courses around and perfect for new racers. Thats half the reason i'm making sure I attend this one. All the other courses are pretty relaxed and fairly easy to learn as well. Are you planning on going @ Mr.Greendom?

 

Ever find yourself a rig for the races bud? Anyone else planning on going? Would be real nice to split gas..? or even camp near some friendly folk. I can drive...

 

I believe by now you realized that Long Beach is not a great spot for MTBking.....

If you head Northwest you will find some trails in the PV peninsula..... Not much.
Northeast - Whittier has Turnball.
Southeast - Elmo/Laguna wilderness.

Everything else is a longer drive.

 

And there's always the FLoop...forever the FLoop!!

 

Well another whirlwind trip is in the books and we had another epic trip to Sea Otter. Our group changed it up a bit this year and I convinced them to do a mountain bike ride on Friday. We basically rode the Cat 2 CX course with some other downhills thrown in for fun. Saturday we did a road ride and then I raced CX in the afternoon.

My CX race was interesting, as the course this year sucked compared to years past and, in true CX fashion, they delayed the start by 35 minutes..... then started it 30 minutes after the initial time. Yup, I missed the start and was 50 to 100 yards behind the field by the time I got going (I was pre-riding and they went by!) BUT it was really fun and I'll probably do it again next year.

I ended up skipping the XC race on Sunday to get home and take care of a few things, but the course was same as last year which raced really well. My Cat 3 buddies were all excited (or scared) because they ran the same course as Cat2's this year instead of the shortened version of years past.

The show itself was larger (I heard a few more hundred vendors?) and there was A TON going on. We spent 2 afternoons there and driving home I started remembering all the vendors I wanted to see but never got to. The show was the busiest I have seen in on Saturday afternoon. It was actually tough to get through some of the walkways, etc.

Next years trip is already in the plannings stages and it looks like we may be extending it by a day to get up there earlier.

 

I only spent Friday up there. Definitely worth the drive up every year. Definitely lots of stuff going on. You definitely need more than day to take in everything. I took one of my Fox forks up there for a service. 20 bucks for a service including seals can't be beat!