The Sea Otter Virgins
Sandbaggers' Holiday
Words by Mitch Chubey.
After Ian finally left work, packed and picked me up, we were on our way to the Sea Otter Classic. The border guard was unusually enthusiastic about what we were doing and where we were going. After our crossing we drove till the tank was empty. We fuelled up and we noticed we were truly in the States because everything here is larger, like the 32oz. Rock Star energy drinks we got to stay awake. We managed to get some late night parking lot sessions in while waiting for each other at rest stops. The game plan was to drive until we were tired and stop and sleep where ever we were. Before we knew it the sun came up and we just kept on driving until we located a Denny’s. It was definitely a marathon drive - or it sure felt like it.
In order to help cut costs on our already thrifty trip, the decision was made to stay at the highly recommended and incredibly cheap - cheap as in free - Wal-mart parking lot. Ours is fully equipped with a Denny’s and a 7-11, and we were able to poach someone's internet. Ian slept in the passenger’s seat while I took the bed of the truck. (note - Mitch slept with the gate closed and had to call Ian on his cell to be freed in the AM - Ed.)
Ian thankfully brought along his GPS device and it works amazing except it lags a bit. After having no clue where we were going or an address to follow we preformed a promotional lap or two around Monterey until we saw an “Event” sign. After 18 hours of driving, a quick rest, we parked and we were on our way to the Dual Slalom course. 
Neither of us had ever raced Dual Slalom before and we were told by the registration lady we should be in beginner. We had no clue so we went with it. It seemed a little strange but she told us something about moving up levels with results. Ian, with a crash in his second seeding run qualified 5th over all. I qualified first by 5 seconds. After qualifying we felt we had sandbagged, so we went to the official’s tent to ask if we could be switched into the sport class. They would not allow it since they saw nothing wrong with it. 
The festival has all of the new products out on display and we have some goods to tell you about. Syncros has some new products coming out as well as some sick looking graphics. 
Their bars and seat post have the new graphics and they look sharp. Their new Fixed bar is a flat bar perfect for those of us who want the front end lower without running a smaller fork. It comes in a 710mm width with a 10 degree sweep. They also have DS28’s coming out in 29 inch wheels. Their chain guides remain untouched from last year but they still look sweet, especially the carbon one, extra bling. Another product is their FBI 1.5 to 1 1/8 reducer headset. It comes with a 40,000 pound static load bearing mounts directly to the fork, no race for weight savings, and lower cup mounts inside the frame. Marshall from Syncros put it, “If you managed to break this headset, it wouldn’t matter since you would have died a split second before."
The FL hubs are now shipping in white and the axles have been vastly improved without any substantial weight gained. Syncros offers a few different pedals, everything from our favourite, the magnesium flat pedal, to the all new clip less pedals. 
Andrew Cho was on hand to answer some questions and show us around the team rig. The EDC downhill bike has gone through some minor changes from last year with new shock mounting hardware and the pivots. We also checked out the Nugget - the new 4 inch slope style bike, and Cho’s Ritual hard tail dirt jump bike. 
The new Shimano Saint components were on hand. The rear derailleur features their shadow technology and is slim lined just like the XT and XTR. It also mounts to your derailleur hanger and not to your axle making it more compatible with other companies products. The hubs remain almost the same as well as the cranks. The Saint line gets its own cassette that looks to have lower gears that are made from titanium to save weight and prolong the life of the cassette. The brakes have had a complete over haul and feature 4 pistons calipers with new levers. They have nearly 35% more power than the older models.
New Saint Goodies.
To end our day we took off from the event and sat in traffic all the way to the Monterey Convention Centre to watch the Seasons Premier. It was defiantly an amazing movie that captures what the riders go through each year. It also has some amazing riding with cinematography next to none. After we left Season we drove right past Clay Porter’s new film F1rst’s premier. We quickly decided we should watch that one as well. Monterey’s streets are very confusing and we spent the next 30 minutes trying to find the theatre again. Once we arrived at the theatre we got to watch one of the best documentaries of the 2007 world cup racing series. 
After our movie premier marathon we finally got to eat dinner at about 11:00 pm. Once we finished out grand slams we headed straight to the Wal-mart parking lot where we both quickly fell asleep. Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip where we will give our take on the dual slalom as well as the jump jam at the Post Office Jumps in Aptos California!
Check out our Sea Otter photo gallery for all of the photos.
