2011 Sea Otter

Bikers Choice in Hendersonville, TN sponsored a trip for two local cyclists to the Sea Otter Classic Cycling Weekend in Monterey, California. This event celebrates all disciplines of bicycle racing, with over 8000 participants and 50,000 spectators. The largest bicvcle racing event in the country.

 

 

 

Matt Schupp and Tanner Hurst are two of the fastest amateur mountain bike racers in the Southeast. Matt, at age 28 sits in 4th place in the Southeastern Regional Championship (SERC) series. He came to Nashville from Grand Rapids, Michigan in 

2007. Tanner who at age 18 ranks number 1 in the same series. Tanner was born and raised in Gallatin, TN. In only 3½ years they carved out quite name for themselves on the mountain bike circuit. In the last two years they have dominated the expert class taking state No.1 and No. 2 titles for two years running. In their first year of racing Regionals they took the 2nd and 3rd spot in the 19-29 expert division.

2011 means higher challenges. Tanner, in his last year as a Junior has the opportunity to be a national champion, as well as world champion if he can qualify. His motivation is high, and the goods are in the making. He recently earned a full college cycling scholarship to be on the Cumberland University Cycling Team. At age 28, Matt’s focus is to continue racing the SERC series, gaining experience, and potentially go pro.

Schupp and Hurst along with David Hardin from Biker’s Choice arrived on Thursday for the Friday race. Unfortunately, for Tanner, He had began to run a fever on Wednesday. Thursday Tanner seemed to be feeling a bit better and was able to pre-ride the course. He drank fluids and tried to get some much needed rest. Unfortunately, the Flu bug won. On Friday, the day of the race, Tanner couldn’t even get out of bed. No tears of sorrow, he knew he would live to race another day.

 

Team Biker’s Choice’s Matt Schupp utilized excellent preparation and poise. His race was packed full of California, Oregon, and Utah riders. He was able to stay in contact with the main group of 6 for the first 18 out of 40miles. His race consisted of 7500 ft of climbing and rocketing descents on the dry powdery trails. Halfway in, Matt overshot a turn and hit the eject button into some bushes.  He was able to regather himself and managed to hold to a 12th place finish. At the end of the day,   Matt was grateful to be exposed to West Coast cycling.

 

 

 

On Saturday, It was time to site see Sea Otter, Monterey, and Carmel by bike and enjoy the views of the ocean cliffs, city streets and amazing homes. Then back to sea otter go to watch the Mens and Womens Pro XC races. Both of which were dominated by Trek and Specialized Pro Riders. We watched the mens and womens dual slalom finals, watched some juniors racing the downhill course. And then we watched a SRAM sponsored event for pump tracks. Pump tracks might be the next big thing to hit back yards and city parks across the country. Then it was back to the room for showers, then 8 minutes down the road to the beautiful town of Carmel to eat like kings at Clint Eastwoods “Hog’s Breath Inn Resturant”.

 

The cool thing abour Sea Otter how many people rode bikes, bicycles were everywhere. . Commuters, retirees, kids, pro racers. So if you get a chance to go, take a bike, no matter what kind of biking you do, you’ll fit in.

Team Bikers Choice is a 20 man bicycle racing team made up of junior and Senior Men, that race competitive events in Road and Mountain Bike divisions. Currently ranked #1 in Tennessee Mountain bike racing. Team BC also hosts Tennessee’s largest mountain bike races with the Old Hickory Classic, TN Mountain bike State Championships, XTERRA off-road Triathlon, and the Lock 4 Six Hour Challenge. Sponsored by : Bikers Choice bicycle shop Hendersonville Tn., Swiftwick socks, Infinit Nutrition, Specialized Bicycles, Trek Bicycles, Sumner County Dept of Tourism.