Photo Credit: Evan Peairs

A sign at the festival.

Over 50,000 people, most of whom carried bikes with them, gathered at an abandoned military base outside of Monterey. The event that drew the people together to this seemingly random locale was the Sea Otter Classic, a festival of sorts. The Sea Otter celebrates everything relating to bikes, and has races as well as product exhibitions and activities. It takes place at Mazda’s Laguna Seca racetrack, located within the abandoned Fort Ord.

The Sea Otter, which began on April 15th, doesn’t have only one purpose. The Classic is one of the most important races in the world for many Downhill bikers, and has races for every other type of rider, including road bikers. Just as importantly, the Sea Otter has hundreds of exhibitions, all bike-related companies who release new products at the festival.

While at the Sea Otter, I got a chance to ride with one of mountain biking’s greatest heroes, Ned Overend. Ned started biking in the first years of biking’s development, and was one of the greatest in the sport due to his monstrous aerobic capacity. He retired at the age of 41, and immediately afterwards won two triathalon world championships. At the age of 49, he’s still competing. When I met him on Saturday, he had just raced in the road biking race and placed second. He was teaching a quick class on racing skills, and knew more about the mechanics of the sport than anyone I’ve met. Ned’s built his life off of mountain biking, and lives the pro sports dream of holding a sports job through middle age, as he’s now the Specialized team captain.

The best part about the Sea Otter is the people it collects. Upwards of 50,000 people visit, most of whom bring their bike. Innumerable attendees were riding downhill bikes, the heaviest class of bike available. Scads of riders rode Santa Cruz bikes, an expensive and classy bike brand whose bikes usually sell for above $5,000. The sheer variety of bikes was enormous, with bikes in every imaginable color, even colors purposely unattractive to the eye (Who buys a puke green bike, anyway?).  Despite some rather vomitous shades, attending the Sea Otter classic– and meeting Ned Overend– was a very worthwhile weekend.