Apr 07, 2022

SOMETHING NEW AT SEA OTTER

SEA OTTER IS THE LARGEST BIKE FESTIVAL IN US, A few years back, this beast killed Interbike, the industry's largest tradeshow. Oh, there were other things in play...

... but, Sea Otter remains king.

There's the giant expo, where the latest product is revealed.
Downtown biz meetings where the real deals are made.
And racing
MTB
DH
Dual Slalom
Crits
Circuits
Road
... and Gravel
Plus a host of product demos

My first visit, in the 90's, was to race the circuit race on the racecar course. There is nothing like it. A punchy climb, a 50-60mph plummet down the corkscrew...

... what's not to love?

Some how I'm never raced MTB here.

That changes Saturday.

I pre-rode some of the course. It's beautiful. Ribbons of singletrack lace through green spring grass. I'm doing the 80K, long version.

But, I might do more.

For some reason they have the gravel race on the same exact course the following day. I love ripping singletrack on my gravel bike...

... it's so very tempting.

A bunch of us are here, some racing road and some mtb and some circuit and some gravel.

There really isn't anything like Sea Otter... there are fondos and tours, too?

What I am curious to see is how many racers show up now that USACycling is not part of the event. When LifeTime purchased the event they decided to exclude USACycling.

It seems to me that effect the roadies more, because roadies are more into the category upgrades. The dirt side of the sport has always been more laissez-faire.

Oh, and I'm kinda curious to race on the famous trails of Fort Ord...

... actually, super curious...

... I love racing unknown trails.

https://pedalindustries.com/collections/canopies-banners-and-flags/products/bike-rack-banners

Another thing I love is seeing the bike rack full of bikes.

If have one of these racks, let's make you some banners.