2019 Sea Otter Classic with BikeCo.com
It was a fun week at the 2019 Sea Otter Classic with BikeCo.com Pro Riders Cody Kelley and Evan Geankoplis. Cody and Evan each competed in the Dual Slalom as well as downhill events.
Dual Slalom
Ibis enduro team rider Evan Geankoplis (instagram @Genomain) qualified 18th for the Dual Slalom Pro race. The Dual Slalom race is far and away the most fun event at Sea Otter. Slalom is located on the side of the hill overlooking the race track. It’s an event where you can see most of the race course, rather than seeing your favorite rider blast by just once. The crowd tends to be raucous and with a race each lane format you get to see a bit of a “grudge match” vibe on the second descent. All and all a good time.
BikeCo Pro Rider Cody Kelley (@kelleymtb) is a former Dual Slalom champion at Sea Otter. Cody qualified well in 12th but came across a hard bracket facing Mitch Ropelato (@mitchropo) in the third round. Cody kept it close but Mitch was faster. If you’re going to lose, lose to the guy who wins it all right? Congrats to Mitch on an amazing day in Dual Slalom.
Cody Kelley had a fresh bike for Sea Otter. Like released at Sea Otter fresh! The new Alchemy Arktos ST is designed as the short travel (ST) sibling to the Arktos. 120mm of Sine suspension pairs with 140mm fork on this chassis. Cody’s got a custom paint job if you’re looking to be, ah, well more under the radar…
Above the bike is setup for Dual Slalom with 27.5″ wheels to lower the bottom bracket and speed the handling. Definitely not your day to day setup.
Downhill
Below is the bike setup for the Sea Otter Downhill. 29″ wheels back on with a fast rolling Maxxis Ikon rear tire. Keeping the bike low and mean you’ll notice a rigid post as well as a small race cluster for the most usable gear ratios.
Sea Otter is sort of the unofficial / sorta official kick off to the domestic racing season. As its’ a longer event it’s a good opportunity to get together with the faces you might not see as much during the summer traveling to race. And there dogs. You want to stop a group of mountain bike riders in their tracks? Bring out a dog. In fact bring out more than one…
Out of your head and onto the course. Ibis team rider Evan Geankoplis heads out on his 17th place run. How close was the field? Evan finished with a 2:03:27. Winner Walker Shaw’s time was 1:58:96. That’s less than 4 seconds…
Cody took the Alchemy Arktos ST’s maiden podium with a 5th place finish in the 2019 Sea Otter Downhill. Not bad for a 140 / 120 setup eh? Cody ran a 2:00:45. 1:49 seconds off the win.
Rocking a familiar hat on the podium… Congrats to Cody on the 5th place as well as Dakotah Norton in 4th, Kiran Mackinnon in 3rd, Josh Carlson in 2nd and Walker Shaw with the win.