NSMB at Sea Otter: Random Shots

The Sea Otter grounds are hectic: day in, day out, always buzzing. A ton of information flies by your eyes and fills your ears, and as a result the visions of bike biz sugar plums dance uncontrollably in your head.

We stayed in Pacific Grove, on the south side of Monterey, which turned out to be quite nice as a refuge. There was a nice seaside path that led in to the closest business district, which we exploited with our bar bikes on the warm evenings.

Seb’s bar bike is an old rusted Chromag frame with a carbon rear wheel and a milk crate for hauling your goods.

Pete chose the gentlemanly cruiser to get to dinner in style.

What have we here? A Steve Zissou-type wildlife experience?

Why yes, it’s a beach covered in harbour seals.

These guys were making a ton of noise that sounded like dudes yelling.

Back at the Otter, we ran into the Sea Otter himself. Seb interviewed him for Question of the Day, the first of which can be seen HERE.

The Ibis 59er is pretty monstrous.

It tows a vintage Airstream. Pretty sweet.

Does anybody know what’s going on here? Authentic old school, or weird abomination?

And what the above bike wishes it was… a Specialized FSR rear end with a gas engine attached to it.

Of course, Sea Otter brings out the weirdo bikes as well.

Tara Llanes’ hand-powered trike.

Trek C3 slope bike. Steerer-routed front brake, lots of rear brake line, and a 2.4″ tire with at least 80 psi in it.

Troy Brosnan scoping the Dual Slalom course during practice. He would advance to the finals against Kyle Strait later in the day; check out our photos from the race HERE.

Big airs at the Rain or Shine Jump Jam.

Naked whip at Speed and Style. 

Creepin’ you out, one jump at a time…

Side by side tailwhips.

Future shredder, or at this point, probably considered a current shredder.

The burrito lady.

The grounds on Saturday were busy and the weather was HOT.

A sea of heads.

One last view of the grounds, DS course up on the right.

And after a long day of meeting old and new friends, you’ve got to relieve yourself… right on the team truck. Seb cited a rule that said you can piss anywhere you want as long as it’s on a tire… Cam didn’t exactly agree, but it was good for a laugh.

Seb’s testing a pair of Icebreaker merino socks that claim to be stench-inhibiting. That claim has been debunked. Put your shoes back on.

We had hoped to catch a sunset on our last day in Cali, but the fog rolled in just in time. The coast near Monterey sure is a beautiful place.

And alas, back to the North Shore, our own holy land. These people clearly drive around in their ideal world…

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Do any of these images bring up memories, questions, or send you running? Let ‘er fly below…