The Sea Otter Classic Is Back For 2023, Looking Bigger & Better Than Ever
PRESS RELEASE
You will want to make plans to be in California this April—the world’s premier cycling festival is back to kick off the season in Monterey. Registration is OPEN for the 2023 Life Time Sea Otter Classic presented by Continental, and it looks to be the best yet.
Every spring, riders from around the globe gather at the iconic Laguna Seca Recreation Area for a sprawling and energetic bike celebration—four full days of competitive racing, gravity events, recreational riding and activities for everyone in the family. Whether you’re a pro, a pro in your head, or a casual mountain biking fan, you’ll find a place at Sea Otter. Watch the action from last year's event to see what we mean:
Come for the Expo.
The hub of the event, the Sea Otter Expo, brings pros, amateurs and fans together to try new products (from more than 1,000 brands), demo bikes and watch gnarly stunt shows. With the Expo being over 95% sold out, all signs point to this year's Sea Otter being the largest one yet. You may run into your favorite professional athletes - grab their autograph and hear them share their techniques. No other event gives you such close-up access to your favorite brands and cycling heroes.
The Expo pulses with hundreds of exhibitors displaying new gear and offering free demos.
Stay for the racing.
With more than 300 different gravity, XC, gravel and road racing categories, there’s something for riders of all types, all ages and skill levels in Monterey. Nowhere else on earth will you find the same action-packed cycling camaraderie and outdoor fun for the entire family.
Professional and amateur athletes alike make the annual pilgrimage to Sea Otter to participate in over 300 events.
Here’s a taste of what Sea Otter is planning for this April:
• Enduro. Start high above Laguna Seca’s roaring crowds and rolling hills before testing your endurance in four unique stages across the Sea Otter venue.
• Fuego. Test your skills by the fire of the Fort Ord National Monument’s sandy climbs, fire roads and flowy singletrack with Sea Otter’s three unique cross-country distances: 5 miles, 26 miles and 65 miles.
• Downhill presented by Pinkbike. Race against the clock with gravity at your back, grabbing big air and carving technical turns after descending down a new revamped lower section.
• Fox Racing Dual Slalom presented by Pinkbike. Battle side-by-side with other riders as you negotiate berms, rollers and rhythm sections along the Laguna Seca hillside.
• Bulls eMTB presented by Bosch. Charge up for this super-fast circuit race built to challenge modern eBikes and their riders over 60 minutes of top-speed racing.
The Fox Racing Dual Slalom presented by Pinkbike is a Sea Otter fan-favorite.
Kyle Strait is BACK. After joining the Sea Otter team in 2022, Kyle Strait (of Strait Acres) is returning to Laguna Seca in 2023 to lend his talents to Sea Otter’s fan-favorite event: the Fox Racing Dual Slalom presented by Pinkbike. Here’s what Strait had to say:
 | Dual Slalom often looks like an intimidating style of racing, but the way I build tracks caters to both amateurs and pros. Take the challenge and come out and test your skills. I promise after your first race, you'll be wanting to build your own track at home. The 2023 track will feature something new we haven’t seen before, but as always, it will feature iconic big berms, fast rhythm sections and those techy flat corners. |
Keep your eyes open. Downhill racing at Sea Otter features big berms and technical turns.
The Downhill track is (fully) REVAMPED. In 2022, BMX pro and shovel wizard, Alex Fowler, and his wrecking crew at Action Sports Construction kicked off a two-year process of revamping the Sea Otter Downhill, starting with the upper section. In 2023, Fowler and his team are finishing the job:
| Laguna Seca has often been our first stop of the year, and the environment Sea Otter provides each year is insane! Laguna Seca is a legendary venue ...and this year we want to deliver a culmination of our experience building and participating in the event. Look for some full sends on the top section that should captivate the audience. |
The Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda is BACK. After a successful inaugural year in 2022, the seven-event, off-road series is back in 2023—and kicking off at Sea Otter once again. On Saturday, April 22, 70 of the nation’s top cyclists will start their 7-event journey toward off-road glory with the Sea Otter Fuego XL: a two-lap marathon event covering 65 miles and 7,800 feet of elevation change.
Fuego tests the fire of each athlete by way of sandy climbs and flowy singletrack of the Fort Ord National Monument..
The Fuego just got a bit more en fuego. Not only will it kick off the 2023 Life Time Grand Prix—but it’s also a new qualifier for the iconic Race Across the Sky: the 2023 Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB on August 12, 2023, in Leadville, Colorado. You'd better act fast -the field size on this one is limited.
From long-time racers to first-time riders, the Sea Otter Classic has a race, course, demo, recreational event and a snack for everyone. Invite your friends. Invite your family. Invite anyone you see on a bike, looking at a bike or thinking about a bike. Gather your crew and make the pilgrimage to Laguna Seca this spring.
We’ll (Sea) you in Monterey.
Learn more here.
Register here.
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- Please fix the bottleneck at the start of the XC race. There's only about 0.4 mile before people merging into narrow single track.
- Also include more blue trails in XC to make it less like a gravel race.
They've been promoting it to be held for three years now (Obviously covid has played into that) but the venue they are looking to host it at (Stromlo) doesn't even have a dual slalom track to begin with, and there's not money in the Stromlo budget for building one.
Are they planning to pay for these tracks to be built?
Are they actually going to hold it? If Australia was out of covid enough by october last year that it could hold a Crankworx event in cairns, and a bunch of other mountain bike events through the year, why couldn't they hold Sea Otter?
It's starting to feel a bit scammy.
You get a flat I asked ? No I crashed and this tiny wire fell out so now it's just a heavy pedal bike . His Electric motor pedal bike still peddled but his ride on the bike was over . He needed help to lift the heavy pig of a bike up two feet onto a rack.
I can envision me plucking tiny wires from these pedal bikes that need motors to work. Watch the disgruntled customers labor the heavy meat powered pigs .
Oh I have in the past offered assistance to some poor chap walking his motorized pedal bike . Need something fixed I ask ? Being polite and trying to help.
No . Battery is dead .
the rest of the time I stay medium intoxicated on HH beers at different booths, and try to find Brett Tippie to get the latest and greatest dad jokes.