Theo bring us the highlights from 2008. The people, the girls, the XC and the DH. The best shots collected in this wrap up video.

 

A cool new addition to this year’s Sea Otter expo was the demo area, which had dirt jumps, pump tracks, and workshops by the Bike Skills guys. It was a little hard to get to so a lot of people may have missed it. Hopefully, next year it will be placed more prominently. In any case, it was cool to have a place where people could demo bikes, play on some jumps, and generally polish their mountain bike skills. And the pump track pulled in some dirt jump and gravity pros, including Intense pro rider JD Swanguen (see photo directly below), who beat Brian Lopes at the Ray’s indoor pump track competition this past winter.

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Riding the trails is hungry work and most of the energy bars on the market today taste horrible. Sally, founder of Simbree, felt the same way and wanted to provide a healthy energy snack that tasted like real food. So, Sally got busy in the kitchen and created some wonderful and tasty munchables that are ideal for the trail and for people who are constantly on the go.

These bites (or bars) are wheat and dairy free, are 70% organic, and hand-made by Sally in Seattle. Sally tried using ingredients that are 100% organic, but it drove costs too high and shelf life was too short. Three different flavors (almond pistash, maple walnut, and cashew coconut) are available in either 12 ounce bags of bite size cubes or bars that are individually packaged. Look for them at your LBS. If your local bike shop doesn’t carry Simbree, ask them to order you a bag or two.

My favorite was the maple walnut flavor bites. Much easier to pack than a PBJ sandwich and much less perishable than a banana (my other favorite trail snacks). Very soon the bars will be packaged in a foil wrapper. This should make it easier getting to your snack and extend the shelf life of the energy bar.

Navigating the expo area at Sea Otter practically takes a GPS unit with the large number of vendors that setup every year. Hence, I wandered into the Garmin booth and got an update on a couple of Edge GPS units - the 605 and 705 - from Brandi.

Both the 605 and 705 Edge models automatically record your ride and measures your speed, distance, time, and calories burned. The Virtual Partner® feature lets you race a virtual competitor over a specified distance and speed.

The cool new feature for the hardcore trainers and riders who like closely monitor their progress is the ability of the 705 to interface with ANT + Sport™-enabled third-party power meters along with the navigation features of the Edge 605. The 705 allows you to track your heart rate, cadence, power, climb and descent when interfaced with the right power meter. The 605 has limited amount of memory, but the 705 can store up to 50 routes.

With a combination of all these features built into a single unit, recording your rides can provide you with a lot of data. Data which can be used to improve your fitness, be shared with others, and add a little fun to your routine training rides.

Chris Cocalis shows us the brand new 29er from Pivot Cycles....the Mach 429 with DW-link rear suspension:

New Bike Platforms Quickly Pay 0ff for Host of New Marin Athletes

NOVATO, Calif.-April 22, 2008. Marin Bikes, manufacturer of performance bicycles, added seasoned professional racers as well as a new amateur team to its squad for 2008. With less than one season and in some cases less than one month on Marin’s improved Quad-Link 2.0 suspensions and proven race hardtails, racers had exceptional podium placements at this last weekend’s Sea Otter Classic event in Monterey, California.

Leading the wave of gravity riders was former World Cup Champion and new Marin athlete, German born Jurgen Beneke. After coming back last year from a seven-year hiatus Beneke again confirmed his World Cup abilities by riding a Quad XC to 2nd place in the Pro Super D field and 8th in the Downhill aboard the Quake XLT. Beneke represents an important class of riders on the racing scene, an athlete who’s life is not spent training 40 hours a week, but working to support his family. Riding a stock 120mm travel Quad XC Mount Vision, Beneke’s Super D finish is an endorsement of the well balanced and race proven design. In 2007, the previous iteration of the Mount Vision garnered Mountain Biking Magazine’s All Mountain Bike of the Year.

Also racing Downhill, current two-time Masters Downhill World Champion, Shaums March finished 22nd in the event riding the Quad XLT series Quake 7.3. Shaums took the time to race when he wasn’t busy coaching the members his Mad March Racing team. Representing the MMR/Marin Bikes development team, neo pro Miranda Miller made a strong showing with 14th in the Women’s Pro Downhill field. The high school senior was the 2006 Canadian Junior Downhill National Champion and 2007 Canadian Junior Downhill silver medalist as well a member of the 2007 Canadian National Team in Fort William, Scotland. Both riders choose to eschew longer travel downhill bikes for the Quake 7.3, with 170mm of travel (7 inches) and offering greater pedaling efficiency and maneuverability on the fast Sea Otter course.

In the XC fields, newly partnered Team Lost Coast Brewery and Marin factory endurance racer Yuri Hauswald had an exceptional showing across the professional and amateur ranks riding Marin’s Hydro-Light Hardtails and the American built Team Titanium models. Lost Coast riders Brian Astell, Tsering Alleyne, Emma Worldpeace and Maureen Kunz, finishing 15th in the Women’s Professional XC race, used the races as tune ups for the upcoming of National Mountain Bike Series(NSMB) series while Hauswald utilized both the XC and the Road Race as preparation for his upcoming Dirt Sweat & Gears 12 Hour endurance race in Tennessee.

“The addition to Marin’s racing support program is unique in that it was developed to support riders who are real world athletes.” stated Marin Bikes Marketing Manager, Mark Vanek. “All the athletes that competed are either employed full time or are full time students. It’s important that their bikes are efficient, lightweight, and ready to race when they are. We’re proud of our new riders and their finishes this weekend.”

Marin Bikes, a designer and manufacturer of performance bicycles and bicycle accessories, is located in Marin County, the birthplace of mountain biking. Marin, founded in 1986 by Robert Buckley, who remains it principal owner, and the company’s employee/owners are as committed to high quality service and customer support as they are to the lifestyle of cycling. Distributed in approximately 40 countries with international offices in Canada, Taiwan and Switzerland, Marin continues to pursue its original mission of providing quality performance and product innovation.

source: Mark Vanek

Peter, who used to distribute Planet-X bikes in the US, got my attention and dragged me over to see this pretty bike. Last year at Sea Otter he had only road stuff and it looked like he was getting out of the mountain bike business. But apparently, he can’t stay away. Because he’s now distributing Orange bikes in the US. Including this CroMo Orange P7 hardtail , set up with a carbon belt drive, and internally geared rear hub.

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Most of you probably know about the accident Tara Llanes had in Colorado last season. If you don’t, check out Tara Llanes MySpace blog. She was out at Sea Otter this past weekend and looked really good. They were having a raffle to help raise money for her recovery with $5 tickets and prizes from Manitou, Santa Cruz, Thule, Smith, Giant, and Michelin, to name a few. The main prize was a trip to Costa Rica.

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The Canfield brothers, Chris and Lance, were showing their 2008 bikes next to the Sea Otter demo area. At Interbike they introduced their new “Perfect Suspension” concept, which is supposed to pedal the same regardless of the chainring, standing or seated. It’s one basic bike design in four configurations, the Sauce, One, Can-Can, and the Can-Diggle.

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Neil from Rohloff USA shows off the most current offerings from the German outfit, specifically the Speed Hub.