The place: right here in Monterey. The dates: April 14-17, 2016. And most importantly, the event: the 2016 Subaru Sea Otter Classic. This is the world’s premiere cycling event, “a celebration of cycling” featuring over 10,000 athletes and nearly 70,000 spectators. Born modestly in 1971 from co-creators Frank Yohannan and Lou Rudolf as the then Laguna Seca Challenge (for the first event there were only 350 athletes and less than half that number of spectators), this ‘celebration of cycling’ kicks off the North American cycling competitive season.
Monterey County is one of the world’s most popular destinations for tourists, so it attracts events—especially outdoor events—like the Sea Otter Classic. What kind of cycling and cyclists are represented at this annual event? Here’s a short list:
- Professional and amateur
- National, world, and Olympic champions
- Mountain, cross country, downhill, dual slalom, and short track
Competition takes place in circuit, criterium, and road racing. Non-competitive events include cyclocross and others. Those events are offered for all ages. In addition to the exciting and intense competition, you’ll see “the largest bike exposition in North America”. It’s an amazing expo with hundreds of vendors. In addition to everything cycling, including new products, there will be free samples, good bargains, an international food court, entertainment, stunt shows, and even activities for children. This Classic has a lot of everything, catering to enthusiasts of all ages. The list of exhibitors this year is absolutely huge. For now, here are but a handful. As you can see, they’re from around the world:
- 10 Speed Coffee (California)
- 4iiii Innovations Inc (Alberta, Canada)
- Bont Cycling Pty Ltd (New South Wales, Australia)
- Brooks England
- Da Bomb Bike (Taiwan)
The international flavor of the event, the competition, the vendors, and of course, you, help make this event so successful every year. A couple more things you might like to know: The Classic recommends you “Ditch the Car” and bike it; all or part of the way. If you intend to bike all or part of the way to Laguna Seca, you’ll want to visit this Web page for more information. Your pooch is only allowed at the campsite. You can read more about that here.
Finally, if you want the whole story, please consider visiting the Classic’s main website.
This list was accurate at the time of publication; please check directly with the venue(s) to ensure dates, times, and locations remain the same.