California Block Pt.2
Sea Otter Classic!
The Big Bike Party! This festival is traditionally where the rubber hits the road for American bike racing. The start of the competitive season has crept earlier and earlier over the years, but the stoke remains with the beginning of the Life Time Gran Prix for the gravel racers and the first Leadville 100 qualifier with the 70mi Fuego XL. With over 3000 brands releasing their new technology, best selling products, and showing off their sponsored athletes, the expo and races at the Sea Otter Classic attracts around 75,000 fans who are all about bikes and ready to party! Races are every discipline, every level, from strider bikes to World Champion pros on road bikes, gravel bikes, downhill, XC, trials… every bike you can imagine. Did you imagine a folding city bike? Yeah, they raced those too. It was crazy!
HART-Accel showed up with the main mission of hanging with our awesome sponsors at the festival and, of course, racing some bikes! Isabella enjoyed a full week of chill, coastal training racking up miles on her RKT on 17 Mile Drive around events at the festival while Jeremy rolled in ready for shenanigans.
After some gravel riding, spectating the Grand Prix Gravel Race on Thursday, Jeremy joined in the Thank Gravel it’s Friday group ride with our friends at Sweet Protection. Great to chat with some cool new people out there!
Dual Slalom:
Next was Dual Slalom on Friday. This bracket style gravity event takes place on twin, twisting, technical downhill tracks and is an elimination event. Riders start with a timed qualifying run down each track where they are put into brackets before racing head to head. Niner Bikes asked Jeremy if he would line up on his RIP 9 RDO and he can’t say no to a bike race!
After a few practice runs on the old-style, loose track, chatting with other athletes and comparing bike setups, it was time for business. Jeremy pushed too hard through the first corner of his first qualifying run and narrowly dodged hitting the rider next to him instead hitting a hay bale and launching over the bars. This tumble only cost Jeremy about four seconds but that was enough to put him low on the qualifying list. With the brackets decided for quick eliminations, Jeremy lined up in his first race run against Hayden Cavanah, a gravity rider for Niner Bikes! Being technically teammates, Jeremy and Hayden were hoping for a different matchup as neither wanted to be eliminated by the other early in the competition. But, Jeremy’s crash put them head to head so they made the most of it and battled it out for two race runs. Hayden got the better of Jeremy in the end and Jeremy was eliminated from the competition. Hayden went on to take a commanding win the race overall! Jeremy had a great time trying a new discipline and ripping the RIP 9 RDO! Thank you Niner Bikes for the opportunity and Sweet Protection for connecting Jeremy with a full face helmet for the event!
A selfie with Jeremy and fellow Niner Bikes Athlete, Hayden, both on the Niner RIP 9 RDO for the dual slalom race. Hayden beat and eliminated Jeremy soon after this selfie.
Jeremy is in his Sweet Protection Strayer, more protection for a bigger bike!
NEW Custom Lake Shoes!
Following Dual Slalom, Jeremy and Isabella met up at the Lake Cycling booth in the festival to hang out with our friends there, talk to fans about shoes, and release our new custom Lake MX333 shoes!! Of course, some shenanigans ensued, Jeremy brought his fiddle to the tent and fiddled around and we ran into the whole Lunchbox Racing Team, gravel friends of ours.
White MX333 shoes featuring the topographical lines from one of HART’s favorite training trails, the Zen Trail in St. George, UT.
Gray MX333 featuring the topographical lines of the trails HART was founded on at Horsetooth Mountain Park in Fort Collins, CO. The same lines you will see on our Niner Bikes ORE 9 RDO!
Our custom Lake MX333s are available to order!! Shoot an email to HART@hartcycling.com to get order in. If you get your order in now, you can expect to harvest your new shoe watts for your August races! If you are interested in any of the off-the-shelf Lake shoes, reach out for those as well!
Friday night HART enjoyed some delicious tacos and chats with Niner’s industry partner, DT Swiss. The event included a head-to-head hub building challenge where contestants had to assemble all the springs, ratchets, washers, spacers, and end caps of a DT Swiss mountain bike hub as quickly as possible. Isabella had a strong run. Husband and videographer Ben put on an incredible show of deft assembly even with one arm in a sling! Jeremy discovered a new talent and finished 2nd overall in the competition behind the previous year’s uncontested winner.
Jeremy mid-way through the hub building competition with DT Swiss.
“You start the day with [elimination] brackets, you end the day with brackets!” - Ben Robles
Fuego XL:
Saturday was the big day for Jeremy with the Fuego XL, a 70mi MTB race with over 8,000ft of elevation gain. The 35mi lap started on the Laguna Seca raceway down by the festival, climbing up a steep paved climb before turning off onto a ripping single track descent. No rest for the racers as short, steep punches interrupted the descent and major climbs followed shortly. The course then takes a mix of gravel and trail in a perimeter loop around Fort Ord National Monument with more gradual ups and downs until the final few miles of brutal climbs before descending back into the venue.
Jeremy got off to a slow start in mid-pack, then started picking riders off in the early trail, making some jumps between groups in the double track. On one of these gravel road sectors, Jeremy heard a loud smacking sound coming from the rear of his bike. He slowed just as a screw dislodged from his tire and it immediately went flat. Jeremy was able to fix the flat with a tire plug and Co2 cartridge in just a couple minutes but lost valuable momentum in the battle with a strong group. He went straight to chase mode and worked to close down time on them again.
Jeremy made good time for the remainder of lap-1, on track to tie or beat his time on course from the previous year. He swung through the feed zone on the paved race track and swapped out both his hydration pack and a water bottle full of Carbs Fuel Sport Drink Mix with his support team from the Accel Cycling staff. Unfortunately, the high pace on brutal steep climbs took its toll and, three hours into the race, Jeremy’s hamstrings started cramping horribly. Jeremy had to let a group go and pedal easy, desperately trying to relieve the cramps, getting in sugar, electrolytes, and water as consistently as possible. Eventually, he found a balance in an easier pace, just maintaining momentum and switching between sitting and standing until his quads also started cramping.
Jeremy picked off two more riders after the cramps set in to finish 24th, 5min slower than last year’s race, and quite happy just to have made it to the finish.
Cramps wouldn’t let up for photos.
Meanwhile, Isabella enjoyed some beautiful training miles on 17mile drive on the coast!
Following the Fuego XL, Jeremy and Isabella hung out at the Niner Bikes booth and compared Jeremy’s very dusty RKT 9 RDO with the shiny new one they had on display. This was a great time of chatting with friends and new friends about the RKT, RLT, ORE, and RIP that the HART squad enjoy. Isabella and Jeremy also got to be involved with Hayden Cavana’s bunnyhop competition at the Niner booth!
Post Fuego XL Jeremy talking about the RKT 9 RDO with a fan at the Niner Bikes tent.
Jeremy finding his limit against the toilet paper hurdle in Heyden’s Cavana’s bunny hop competition at the Niner Bikes booth.
Fellow Niner athlete and YouTuber, Hayden, showing us how it’s done!
The final day - Fuego XC:
Low marine fog on Sunday morning heralded the final event of the 2026 Sea Otter Classic, the 20mi Fuego XC. The course shared the start and finish with Saturday’s Fuego XL but cut through the middle of Fort Ord on beautiful flowing single track through oaks and Spanish moss. Jeremy was first off the line in the Pro Mens race. Thankfully, he held off the cramps and got a great start in the lead group. It didn’t take long before the fatigue from the week caught up with him and he fell back again. He emptied what remained in the tank to finish 10th.
Starting not far behind, Isabella had an awesome race in the Pro Women. She stayed near the front of the race, dictating the pace with another strong woman. Through the twisty trail descents and steep gravel climbs, Isabella helped animate the lead pack and raced a tactical race. On the final climb of the race, the infamous Lookout Hill, the tight racing exploded into all out attacks and Isabella held on for 6th place, a great finish for a training race at the end of a dialed training week.
One really cool experience exclusive to Sea Otter is getting to try out newly released products the week of their release! Both Isabella and Jeremy got the incredible opportunity to race on the brand spanking new Kinda Daggers on Sunday’s Fuego XC, released to the public on that Thursday! These new tires are the perfect mix of straight line speed and cornering confidence. A bit more knobby and protected than the pure speed Kenda Rush and a faster and lighter than the trail champion Kenda Booster. Out on course, the Dagger ate up loose trail and launched up climbs. It’s Isabella and Jeremy’s new favorite tire!
Isabella with her Daggers fighting for Lookout Hill in the Fuego XC!
Sunday afternoon, Isabella and Jeremy made their rounds visiting friends and sponsors one more time before everyone packed up and headed home. After some final chats and final business, Isabella, Jeremy, and Ben went home, packed up to leave the next day, then went to the legendary Monterey Bay Aquarium for some final oceanic tourist-ing before heading back to their respective landlocked climates.
The ocean is a crazy place!
The meandering coastal drive back to the house, getting to see sea otters and sea lions in the wild, was the perfect way to wrap up a great Sea Otter trip.
Isabella flew back to Arkansas with her California Block fitness and skills for some quick training before heading to Danville, VA for the next round of the US Pro Cup Series.
Jeremy broke up his 20hr drive home with lunch with his California based grandparents and a quick sleep at Samuel’s house in St. George, UT.
HART has been busy these weeks with riders all over the continent and action happening on the trails and behind the scenes! Stay tuned for yet another update including Whiskey 50, Danville, and more! Check our Instagram for live updates and other tips and tidbits.
Thank you for following along the adventures of HART-Accel and we look forward to sharing the next one!
-Jeremy
