Join Winnebago at the Sea Otter Classic!

If you follow our shenanigans over on The Fit RV blog, you already know that James and I are cycling enthusiasts.

In fact, as I type we're on a cross-country cycling adventure, riding our bikes out from every campsite we visit. Or, sometimes even just riding right there at the campground.

So, it probably doesn't surprise you one bit that an upcoming event has us incredibly excited:

The Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA: April 19-22, 2018.

Regarded as the world's greatest "Celebration of Cycling," Sea Otter is a 4-day action-packed festival that combines bike races, bike vendors, bike celebrities, and of course ... CAMPING!

The Sea Otter festival is held at the beautiful Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in the rolling hill country of Monterey, California. It is adjacent to Ford Ord National Monument, a breathtaking valley with scenic hiking and biking trails ... a perfect venue to bring together lovers of cycling and camping.

And here's the best part:

We'd love for you fellow cycling enthusiasts to join us!

Winnebago Outdoor Adventures has secured a section of premium campsites at the festival that are so highly sought-after they sell out immediately, even at their festival rate of $120 per night!

James and I, with help from our Travato-driving friend Staci James, will be hosting your experience there. Besides watching bike races or touring through vendor booths, you can look forward to campground socials, Team Trivia night, campsite workouts (led by yours truly), a Friday evening dinner event in the lovely and famous wine-tasting village of Carmel Valley, group rides, and much more.

AND EVEN MORE NEWS!

Trek will be taking part in our opening night happy hour event, and many of their product managers will be hanging with us (an athlete or two as well). Here's the exciting part. Trek will be releasing some super cool new bikes at Sea Otter, but will not be demoing them to the general public. However! They are giving our camping group an exclusive demo of those bikes. We will be the only Sea Otter attendees who get to ride them!!!!!!!! (I'm ridiculously excited about this, as noted by my overly excessive use of exclamation points.)

Since Winnebago has a booth on the festival grounds, our camping group also gets VIP status at the booth... which means unlimited snacks and drinks (and VIP booth silliness) all day long! Plus, there are tons of different types of bike races happening all week.

Here are my three favorite races to watch at Sea Otter:

1. Brompton World Championships. Ever seen a bike race where the participants are dressed in a suit and tie? At the Brompton race, you certainly will! The race starts with sharp-dressed racers sprinting to their folding bikes, quickly assembling them, and then taking off for five laps around the track.

2. Cyclocross Racing. Cyclocross is a blast to watch. On the short off-road course, cyclists tackle obstacles, get covered in mud, and even hop off their bikes and run ... whatever it takes to get to the finish the fastest.

3. Dual Slalom Racing: One of the most exciting races to witness at Sea Otter! Dual Slalom is when two mountain bike racers go head to head full speed down a hillside.

And then on Saturday morning, it's our turn! Saturday is when Sea Otter hosts its Gran Fondos and non-competitive tours. James plans to sign up for a 93-mile Gran Fondo ... that's a long way, so I'm not sure that's the tour I'll join. Plus, our group's evening out on the town is the night before! I'm thinking I'd prefer to do the 50-mile Gran Fondo like I did last year. Though, I'm a social rider and will wait to see which tours others in our group sign up for. The tours aren't included in the Winnebago camping package, so there's no pressure here to do any of the rides.

Want to Learn More?

If you're interested, contact Merrisa with Winnebago Outdoor Adventures, she's the event's coordinator and is ready to help. Her phone number is: 641-585-6267 and her email is: [email protected].

You can always find me over on The Fit RV website and Facebook page, too, and I'm happy to try answering any questions! Hope to see you at Sea Otter!