Brits thick on the ground at Sea Otter Classic

Chipps of Singletrack magazine (pictured) is a Sea Otter veteran – he has attended 17 of the consumer/trade shows to date. This year the Californian show celebrates its 25th anniversary. Starting as a mountain bike race, with a small expo, the very much larger expo is now a magnet to a dizzying variety of races and demo rides. There are races and rides for XC MTBs, downhill, dual slalam, road, and cyclo cross, and there are also "gran fondo" sportives.

This year there have been more Brit exhibitors at the show than ever before, including Chain Reaction Cycles which built an ultra short pump-track, and had no evidence of its retailing website on show.

Other Brit exhibitors included …

Isla Rowntree of Islabikes was at the show with her parents, Terry and Carolyn (on their first trip to the US). 

Sea Otter attracts thousands of kids (there are loads of kid-friendly things to do at the show, as well as junior races) and this little guy had fun trying out an Islabike.

This is the first Sea Otter Classic that Brompton has attended.

Scottish clothing brand Endura has been expanding massively in the US over the last few years and had a large presence at the Sea Otter Classic. Ryan Molony is the brand’s Northern California account manager and is not Scottish but he was attracting a lot attention by wearing a kilt. The answer to the obvious question was "cargo shorts."

Hope had a steady stream of visitors at its Sea Otter booth.

Chain Reaction Cycles of Northern Ireland built a mini-pump track beside its blow-up.