Sea Otter

I'm going to Sea Otter for the first time since 2007. Thinking strategically, I was planning to just race DH this year. But then I saw the Mad Catz 2003 photo and I realized that I was stupid.


Fun and good memories with friends > taking stuff SO SERIOUS



Just kidding, I don't have friends. So I built up my bike tonight in about 3 hours. My singlespeed dirt jump bike is now a dialed slalom bike with gears, a front brake, and real tires. And a lot of extra housing. Holy Brake Lines Batman.



The slalom bike, all built up. 2012 Diamondback Assualt, size large, looking pretty sweet. A few more modifications left to go. For one thing, yellow grips are sweet on dirt jump bikes, but race bikes have a mandatory black grip rule. That's a law. Also, I want to add something to the bike called "cleaning it." It still has Duthie Hill dirt on it from a couple weeks ago, so... that's not very Pro at all.




Close up on the hodge podge derailleur hanger. No, it works, I swear. Also, close up on the Duthie Hill dirt leftover on the rim and mostly everywhere. Also, with the wheel spaced out a bit in the dropouts, we're looking at a 15 7/8" chainstay, which should be just about perfect. 23" toptube and a 13" bb = pinned. Trust me, I never ride slalom, so I'm an expert.


This slalom video has the correct music choice AND the correct amount of slow mo. Come to think of it, those two qualities appear together in videos more often they they appear apart from one another. Very rarely do you get Slayer or The Misfits set to Clay Porter slow mo wire cam close ups.

2010 Sea Otter Dual Slalom from Taylor Sage on Vimeo.

I built my bike, watched that 2010 slalom video, and got super pumped. I wanted to have every possible edge for the race, so I watched this bike check to study up on Mick's winning tire and suspension setup:

Mick Hannah Bike Check at Sea Otter Classic on pinkbike.com

And I fell asleep. Well, that sort of turned down the excitement level a bit, but I'm still pretty excited.





Sure, the last time I rode slalom sucked, so it won't take much for Sea Otter to do better.