
Photo Epic
Deniz's Excellent Adventure to Sea Otter
Goin' to California
Last week, I joined Cam and Pete on a journey down to Monterey California for the 2022 Sea Otter Classic. Being my first trip to the festival, I was not entirely sure what to expect. I suppose neither did most of the people who make up the biking industry. Two years apart does a lot to a relationship it seams. The vibes were reminiscent of close friends who have been catching up on each other's lives through social media channels. Not knowing if their online presence is an accurate representation of their actual being. "How the hell are you?" were the words I heard most often. We just wanted to hang out at the tents that offered refreshments for the crusty dry mouths we got from laughing too much. I got sunburnt and froze my butt off in the same day. Got to meet and hang out around a fire with our own Mike Ferrentino. I had all the emotions in one day and came home depleted of energy. These things are tough for an introvert like me.
Nevertheless, there was a festive taste in the air. The tents were packed full of all the latest and some of the greatest, and I was still mostly interested in the sweet light that draped over the hills of the Carmel Valley in the evening.
I present to you my visual diary of the 5 days I spent in Sunny California. Enjoy!

Sign of things to come... A man and his bike in seaside Santa Cruz.

Cam mentally preparing for a busy week ahead.

It's not just about bikes here in California, surfing is sublime just off the boardwalk.

Salty pacific air is divine...unless you are a car.

The salty car syndrome to which most cars within a 50-mile belt along the coast are subjected.

There is a huge car and racing culture here in Cali and this is the best dashboard design of all time..

Drool-worthy collection of automobiles at Bruce Canepa's Garage. A must visit on your next trip to Santa Cruz.

The beautiful Lancia Delta Integrale.

There were more than a few Porches in the garage to geek over.

Multiple fuel pumps for multiple parts of the RPM range.

There was a really cool Volvo gravity racer. Basically a 4-wheeled million dollar soap box racer.

1967 Shelby Super Snake Dragster.


Hand-painted burnishing! Amazing.

No:5 Red

Ford GT40 ... lots of carbon fiber.

Another Lancia in Martini livery.

With all the car racing influence around, this Forbidden Druid Painted by TecGnar and curated by Sebastian Salvant of Crankbrothers was a sight to behold.

Gold TRP 12-speed and SRAM drivetrain.

Inspired by the livery of the John Player Special Lotus F1 cars, Mario Andretti would be proud.

He would also 100% be a mountain biker.

Cane Creek Kitsuma Special.

Powder coated gold spokes. The attention to detail is perfection.

Much like inside this LeMans winning Porsche.

SolosJuntos...(Alone Together) Ranch set the mood nicely for the remainder of our trip. It guided us back into line if we lost purpose.. We thank Mr. Ferrentino for his hospitality.

The NSMB rental was a pleasant surprise. Not suited for the twisty roads of Coastal California, but it had a moment to shine at the ranch, like we knew what we were doing.

Meanwhile, at the show, IBIS bikes and Cam and Pete's friend Saris were making sure the mornings were off to a comfortable start.

Plenty of colourful artifacts scattered over acres of show grounds.

Constantly seeking steel fully content for our audience.

Our friends at Outbound Lighting had this sweet REEB on display.

Outbound's new Road/Gravel light Detour was on display.

This cool lens design borrows a lot from car headlights.

Contra Bikes High Pivot Enduro Steely.

It was cool to run into Canadian Meg Fisher and all her medals! 11 World Championships to be exact.

This Intense M29 at the Manitou tent is the nicest looking bike Intense has produced.

Beauty of a Klunker from State Bicycle Co. with White Industries cranks and custom bags. Never mind the boxed wine, that's classy.

Shiny pieces of art.

Norco had all the pre-production mules for the current Range. The first one had a really cool head tube design that allows for a massive reach and angle adjustments.

It was interesting to see the thought process that arrived at the final product. Rapid prototyping has been good to the industry.

They also had a full Kashima Range... over the top?

At Canyon, they don't care about your opinion... they just make rad bikes, wear sweet shades and have sick tattoos.

Neko Mulally's one off Frank The Welder Race bike was at the 5DEV booth. The cranks and lower chainstay yoke are made by 5DEV.

When the smoke cleared, we went for a little hike to clear our heads. Point Lobos State Park was the perfect location.

Found exactly ZERO Sea Otters. But this little guy was enjoying its day in the sun, spared from the Sea Otters.

I have been thinking about this shirt ever since I got back to my normal life... not sure if I missed an opportunity to get one or dodged a bullet!

Cheers to Mike Ferrentino for his wisdom and unapologetic fashion sense.. We'll be back.. before the next Sea Otter!
Comments
cheapondirt
2 years, 10 months ago
After a barrage of lesser Sea Otter content from other sites, I appreciate the high quality of these photos and the storytelling in the captions.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
It was a great feeling leaving the heavy lifting to the "other guys" while being present and observing all the cool things Sea Otter had to offer
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DanL
2 years, 10 months ago
These are beautiful photos, worth looking at on a huge monitor for full velvety lusciousness.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
A photographers dream... everyone owns a large monitor computer in a darkroom facing north
A photographers reality... everyone owns a 2 years old Iphone and reading this in shitty lighting in the bathroom...
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Niels van Kampenhout
2 years, 10 months ago
Don't forget that everyone's large monitor is also hardware-calibrated (if we are dreaming anyway)!
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DanL
2 years, 10 months ago
Everyone over to mine then
However, minus 5 points for no Ducati pics
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
Challenge accepted....
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DanL
2 years, 10 months ago
So good. I knew I saw that pipe in the BG.
Thanks Deniz!
ohio
2 years, 10 months ago
The JPS livery has never gone out of style and looks good on everything. That's a dream paint job for any toy of mine, someday.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 9 months ago
I couldn't agree more!
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Andy Eunson
2 years, 10 months ago
That’s not a funny car wheel. Funny cars have full Fiberglas bodies. That’s a AA/FD or similar. Rail, slingshot are other names for these dragsters. From the lack of aero stuff I’d guess an old front engine dragster. Do have pics of the entire car? Drag racing was my first love when I was 13 or so.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
Thanks for the info Andy.. it seems the be based on a Ford running gear by Shelby
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kcy4130
2 years, 10 months ago
Fantastic photos, Thanks for including some cars too! Anyone else who wants to nerd out/drool there's loads of photos and info on their website https://canepa.com/canepa-difference/canepa-museum/
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Andy Eunson
2 years, 10 months ago
Don "The Snake" Prudhome’s AA/FD. SWEET. They all had nicknames.
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Peter Appleton
2 years, 9 months ago
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papa44
2 years, 10 months ago
I was sure that Druid was going to be a production privée, they really own the race car mtb paint job scene
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
Production Privee has a great pulse in painting their frames like race cars.
What is really cool about the Druid is the sum of all of its parts. And the fact that Carbon bikes allow for more surface to paint on.
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papa44
2 years, 10 months ago
Yeah definitely give them props for the details like the spokes, I wish I had the resources to go so hard on my bikes. I’d probably never ride it though
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Ryan Walters
2 years, 10 months ago
Great pics, Deniz.
I agree - that M29 might be the best looking bike ever made. Too bad it never had the results to back up the look.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
I know right? I wonder if it was the pilots or the bike...
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andyf
2 years, 10 months ago
Nice pics and writeup. You guys were right across the street from me at Canepa!
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
Your lunch breaks must be better than my lunch breaks!
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andyf
2 years, 10 months ago
Lunch breaks where I have time to pedal over to Henry Cowell/UC are nice but realistically only 2x weekly.
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BenHD
2 years, 10 months ago
Super cool pics, thanks!
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 10 months ago
Thank you!
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earle.b
2 years, 10 months ago
Good stuff.
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Sebastien Salvant
2 years, 9 months ago
Deniz
A pleasure meeting you guys and appreciate you featuring the JPS Forbidden.
Respect
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Shoreboy
2 years, 10 months ago
So it seems that Druid is going to be raffled off to a great cause. Any idea what size it was?
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 9 months ago
It looked like a medium but could also be a large...
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shapethings
2 years, 9 months ago
As a former large Druid owner, I would say the large is a medium in reality.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 9 months ago
As a Medium Druid owner.. I should have gotten a large, but the Medium was also juuuust fine...
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Sebastien Salvant
2 years, 9 months ago
So it is a Large
Large druid is more an M/L, not too bad
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krismcphee
2 years, 9 months ago
Full Kashima Range? Do tell...
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Cam McRae
2 years, 9 months ago
It's actually just paint that matches the coating on the stanchions I believe.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 9 months ago
Definitely an attention grabbing bike at the show. Looked great in the sunlight. I would not want it for my personal bike.
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shapethings
2 years, 9 months ago
MK III cane creek helm? An easter egg or actual gen 3 version? The helm is underrated, I rate it higher than any RS or Fox fork I've owned. Guessing they need to make a 38mm version to keep up with the Joneses.
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Deniz Merdano
2 years, 9 months ago
Good catch.. I will reach out for some information
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Sebastien Salvant
2 years, 9 months ago
Stikrd did the decals on the fork and they came up with the MKIII
Maybe something to come????
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