Sea Otter Day 5 - Arrived, Alive, and Pumped.

After 12 straight hours of driving we were greeted to Monterey, California. Tyler had driven the piss out of the I5 (and maybe missed an exit or three), but we arrived at the Beach Dunes Inn at 2:30am. After signing in, and sleeping till 10:30am we were ready to get the day started.

Here's a small update on what happened on day 5 of our Sea Otter trip.We left Bend Oregon at 2:30pm, and arrived in Monterey California at 2:30am. 12 straight hours of driving had left us tired, hungry, and ready for sleep, so we hit the sack at 3:30am, and were awake by 10:30am. After awaking to an empty stomach, we wandered across the road to get a bite to eat.


The ocean view of Monterey is spectacular, so after lunch we planned to go snap a few quick photos on the beach. The intense wind made it feel as if we were stuck inside a sand blaster that was stuck on its "destroy" setting. Like salt water, sand is great for your bike, so we tried to make it as fast as possible.



The Sea Side photos turned out well, and it left our time at 12:00pm flat. After a quick truck cleaning we packed up the bikes and camera gear to head over to the Laguna Seca Race Way. We arrived, signed in, and got our Media passes all figured out. Kyle, Trent, and Casey figured out their race schedules, and we were ready to wander the pits. We met up with a small grouping of people that were preparing for the up coming days.

First off we ran into Dave at Manitou. He informed me of a fancy new stem that Answer racing (yeah, they are back) is working on. It's SUPER light, and is going to feature the Answer "A" logo on the face plate. Offered in MRD Gold, and Anodized Red it's going to be fly.


Casey and I continued our wander while Tyler, Trent, and Kyle figured out suspension setups at the SRAM booth. Not 20 feet down the way I noticed something that was crazy. Ken Block's Subaru rally car was on display at Subaru's booth. SICK! For those of you who don't know the name, Ken Block is one of the only people out there that can comfortably jump his car 170 feet. It was so mint. Tons of carbon, a DC Shoe's decal kit, and a custom interior made this beast custom for Ken.


Beside Ken Block's sick Subaru was Brian Lopes unloading his Ibis race bike. As most of you know Brule has a Mojo as well, so I had to take some shots of it. Brian is here to pin it, and his bike is designed for it. Had a ton of carbon components, along with a carbon frame!


After wandering the pits, myself and Casey walked up the Dual Slalom course to check it out, as he is racing it and needed to know what he was in for. The slalom course was still being worked on at the time, so photos were limited. Casey is stoked to be racing the Slalom this year, as he has never tried it, and wants to prove he's not just good at tricks.

Note: Two new doubles at the bottom

We wandered down, and back up to the truck towards the Downhill course. We met up with our racers, Trent Zoobkoff and Kyle Marshall to do some quick shots at the bottom of the hill before heading back to the hotel room.

Trent is a style rat, and Kyle is a racer. Together, they should be able to dial in the course big time. Both are really strong riders, so we are pumped to see how things go for them. Expect to see some some riding clips with them as soon as possible.


So Day 5 all-in-all went well. We got an early look at Wet Otter and what it has to offer, and tomorrow the grind starts. Stay tuned to see more updates from Sea Otter 2009. For now, I will leave you with this photo of Leanna Gerrard and Katie Holden. Leanna informed us after the photo was taken that she was throwing up her "gang sign" in her mittens, but you can't see it.

Keep it real viewers

Click here for all my Sea Otter images, and here for the complete album.

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