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While at Sea Otter you’ll get invited to a ton of parties or film premieres. Usually we’re all too tired to attend any of these these. But once again we fueled up on more energy drinks and headed to town. But this time it was just Priscilla, Art and I. The rest of the crew were back at the condo at Pebble Beach resting.

We wound up at some sort of birthday party for some Giant Free Rider guy. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure who we were singing happy birthday to. But the great part about this venue, chicken wings and shrimp cocktail! Art and I made sure we ate stocked up. I ate so much wings and shrimp that I had to use my second stomach to make room.

Since I was the designated driver for the evening, I couldn’t imbibe my favorite alcoholic beverage until we got to our condo. So that meant a quick stop at the local quickie mart and got some Four Loko! Love this stuff. I shared with Art, Priscilla didn’t want any because she had a bad experience with it the last time she drank some. Four Loko is so strong, that I can only have about 1/4 of it before I feel the effects of the spirits. Art thought it tasted kinda gross, thus the face he’s making. No wait, I think he was already buzzed by then. Perhaps that look is a combination of the Four Loko working and the reaction to the flavor…who knows.

While we were chit chatting in the kitchen, we heard Dan grunt. We totally forgot he was sleeping on the couch. Dan complained that he had a hard time falling asleep without his wife (I can certainly relate), so the last time we saw him that night, he was busy pounding away what he called “sleeping juice” (beer and wine).

That’s about the extent of our experience with the Sea Otter night life. I wish we could have done more, but we were all far too exhausted to do anything but eat and sleep. So there ya have it, we’re pretty boring, well I take that back. Art is an exciting guy, you should see him dance after a few beers. Oh and in the morning, Dan and I made an “Art Sandwich!”

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This was probably the best part of my trip to Sea Otter. The pump track this year had some pretty tall obstacles and to be honest with you, it was hard to get 1 lap completed. It’s a full body work out and for those of you who have one of these in your neighborhood, you are lucky!

Here’s Art getting ready to roll down into the track.

People of all skills and ages were on hand to enjoy the pump track.

Just look at the smile on his face!

There’s even a wall ride incorporated.

I gotta be honest, I was kinda intimidated to try it out, but Eric Jackson, was cool enough to show me how to ride the track.

Right next to the pump track was a stunt track. These guys were doing some amazing stuff.

Will White was doing back flips all day long. He was the crowd favorite.

In closing, if you ever get a chance to go to the Sea Otter, make sure you try out the pump track, its way to fun to miss!

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We paid a visit to our friend Brian Cleveland who was working the Sette Bike Booth at Sea Otter. Brian took the time out to show off the new bikes, check em’ out!

The Sette Derro is a 4″ XC mountain bike mated with Fox suspension, Kenda Nevegal tires, XT and SLX drive train.

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Greetings from the happiest place on earth, nope its not Disneyland or your mom’s bedroom. But we are at Monterey, Ca. to celebrate the sport of cycling. We made our early morning trek through the heart of California and arrived safely to our destination. Intoxicated on unhealthy levels of caffeine and sugars, we have been pushing our bodies just to make sure we provide you a glimpse of the event.

Rather than try and post important news worthy info about products we figured we’d just take it easy and just have fun. Without further adieu I give you our Friday morning at Sea Otter Classic 2011.

Here we are between the legs of this old guy. We were very impressed with the cabbages…WOW! Check out Art, he wanted to get a gander at them things…Look Dan and I are short twinsies!

We’re amp’d on Redbull and ready to rock! Later we discovered that our new found energy would only last until noon.

Got the bikes unloaded and packed up our bags ready to hit the scene.

But before we got rolling, we needed to make sure we had plenty of fluids. Art working on filling up our “canteen.”

Met up with Redline Bicycles, they’ve got a prototype Belt Drive Monocog that we caught on video (coming soon).

After our first few hours, we were worn out! We decided to break for lunch. Free food for Media folk…mmm.

Keep checking back because we’ll be posting more info as the weekend goes on.

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Kona = a quality bike company that conjures up images of coffee, my other favorite hobby.

Kona was represented at Sea Otter 2010 in a small way via a booth, not a big diesel rig and huge bike display with a lounge for the employees and guests to hang out. Kona came to Sea Otter allowing their bikes to speak for themselves. What I heard calling my name was a 24.75 lb Kona Abra Cadabra, a 6” travel all mountain trail bike, wait a minute, 24.75 lbs, are you kidding me?..for a 6” travel bike?

This bike was a custom build by one of the Kona employees to showcase just how versatile a frame the Abra Cadabra can be. He told us it was available for a demo so I quickly scheduled a time. The bike features Kona Magic Link suspension design, FSA SLK components, a Sram XX 1×10 drive-train, (that’s right a 1×10), Sram XX brakes and a Stans Podium MMX wheelset. The drive-train was the new SRAM XX with only a 35 tooth chain ring up front. The paint scheme was beautiful with a polished/grey look and a solid clear-coat.

When we hit the trailhead I noticed how easily this burly bike pedaled and how comfortable it was. When I say burly, I am comparing it to my 4.7” Trek Fuel EX that just crosses the line from XC race to all mountain, the Kona is definitely closer to the downhill side of business than my Trek. The Magic Link works as advertised. Climbing puts the shock in a near vertical position with less travel and a more efficient pedaling experience. Going down hill puts the shock in a more relaxed position and allows for more travel via the extra spring in the magic link. For a video of the Magic Link in use and an explanation of the design theory, please click here.

I ended up riding this bike behind a fellow SO goer who was proudly riding an older hardtail Trek. What a huge difference there was when the bikes were pointed downhill, I caught up to him so fast that I caught myself braking just to avoid a crash. Braking was easily handled with Sram’s XX brakes and the rear suspension made sure the rear wheel kept in rotaional contact with the dirt. I’m the type of rider that likes to brake as late as possible (which goes for Grand Turismo as well). I definetely felt confident in my braking decisions.

The purpose of this bike is to be the “one” bike for someone who does not have the pockets for several bikes. This bike proves it can be done. Are there there other manufactures that make a bike in this category? Of course, but this bikes deserves to be at the top of the short list. The frame weighing it at around 6.75 lbs is neither lite nor is it too heavy but is versatile enough for several MTB categories. I was a bit surpised at the frame weight, just looking at it I would have guessed north of 7 lbs. Kona uses their Scandium tubing which is both light, strong and stiff.

I’m a fan of buying a frame only and then selecting the parts that work best for the intended purpose. This frame would be a great starting point for either a freeride oriented all mountain bike or built up closer to xc. If you needed something designed for either category, then you might need to look to the Coilair or the Hei Hei. I really need to get more time on the Abra to get a long term take on it but based on my short ride, it definetely looks like a great bike.

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