HART Cycling: Sea Otter Classic
Last week was the BIG bike party, the Sea Otter Classic, in Monterey, CA. Over 1,200 outdoor brands and 74,000 fans swarmed over the Laguna Seca Raceway tucked into the scrub oak and marine layer of the California coast. Sea Otter is one of the largest, most legendary cycling events in the US where brands gather to show off their most flashy, cutting edge tech, release new products, and gather as an industry.
Across the week, races of every discipline challenge some of the best athletes in the world, from gravity events with breakneck speeds and big jumps to the 90mi Lifetime Grand Prix opener gravel race. Our athletes competed in the Fuego XL and Fuego XC, the 70mi and 20mi mountain bike races.
Samuel had a great start to the Fuego XL, sticking himself to the lead group. After the first singletrack descent, the race blew apart and Sam found himself in no-man's land chasing a small group. That's when his rear brake went out. He rode hard for the next four hours with only a front brake for the fast, flowy descents and was able to hang with a small group. At about mile 56 his legs started cramping hard and the lights went out. He spent the final 50min in time-trial mode and rode to a strong 12th place.
Jeremy had a rough start to his race. A few nights of poor sleep and a few days walking around the venue made for stiff legs race day morning. Still, he got himself into the mid-pack for the first singletrack and made up ground on the ripping descents. About an hour in, his legs started feeling good and he pedaled his way into a strong group of three. Three became two and Jeremy started catching glimpses of his friend from junior racing, Chris Mehlmen, motoring along not far behind. He also started feeling twinges of cramps in his legs. Jeremy dug deep toward the end of the first lap, dropped the last man in the group and hit the final descent hard to make Chris work for the catch. Chris caught just before the end of the lap and the two embarked on the last lap together. Jeremy cramped more and more but pushed through until hour four. He lost Mehlman and kept the legs turning over for 15th, a few minutes inside the 4.5hr mark he was aiming for.
The Fuego XC:
Isabella had a great day of fast paced, tactical racing with some very strong ladies in the Fuego XC. She was able to battle through the expo fatigue and some GI distress from the day before to stay engaged and in the fight to the finish in 6th place! She loved the tight, fast paced racing on flowing single track with so many wildflowers!
Off the race course, HART spent a lot of time at the Pearl Izumi tent talking to the Pearl staff, the other athletes, and getting to take part in some awesome activities like athlete bingo and a whipped cream eating contest against Alexey Vermulen and the notorious Sir Willie.
HART had the opportunity to take over the Pearl Izumi Instagram for a day and interview our fellow Pearl Izumi athletes on their race events in gravel, XC, and gravity. Such a fun time talking to the other athletes!
A huge highlight for us was getting to see the HART jersey on display at the Pearl Izumi tent! One of those childhood dream come true feelings. Thanks Pearl Izumi!
The team got to visit our friend Chris at Lake Cycling, check out some really cool custom shoes on display at the booth, and chat about our plans and dreams!
Isabella got to know the Vittoria team well and join them for an early photo shoot. The team got to talk with several key people at Vittoria and nerd out over our favorite tires and how they performed on the Sea Otter course.
HART also got to swing by the Industry Nine tent, show off our colorful wheels, meet some new people and, of course, stare at the hypnotizing rainbow wheel out front.
Our friends at Skratch Labs were refilling our bottles with lifesaving electrolyte mix all week and we got to chat with them about trails and nutrition. Thanks Skratch!
Jeremy and Isabella got to say hi to our friends Maggie and Mia from The Feed at the Ignition Coach Co. house.
Overall, HART Cycling had an incredible and busy week of riding, talking, nerding out, catching up with friends, and meeting new ones in and out of the bike industry. All in a successful Sea Otter trip! Thank you to everyone who took the time to talk with us at Sea Otter! We're already looking forward to the next one.
Now, after some good sleeps and solid naps, Samuel and Jeremy gear up for the Englewood Open, the next round of UCI racing in the US as well as the next round of the US Cup series. We're excited to revisit the fast, tactical racing in Wisconsin and to shoot for some great results!
Meanwhile Isabella will be training hard and racing harder in Arkansas.
HART Cycling is already almost done with our "Early Season" racing and activities! Time is flying and we couldn't be more excited to soar along with it!
Thank you for reading.
Until Englewood!
