Otter Fever

We’ve already told you about the alarmingly cute sea otter infant bobbing around in the Seattle Aquarium. But the Enhydra Lutris shenanigans don’t stop there. Odds are, if you plunk your butt on a bike with any regularity in the greater Seattle area, you've heard of the Sea Otter Classic. Commencing this Thursday and running through Sunday the 17th, it is the Season Opener of biking, the Burning Man for the "Two wheels good, four wheels bad" set, the Chain-Ring Rite of Spring…sorry, we’ll stop now.

Heralded by pros, amateurs, and spectators alike as “the best biking event of the year”, the festival celebrates its 15th anniversary this spring. OK, we lifted that from the press release. What is truly unique about the Sea Otter classic is that it celebrates all forms of biking without turning its cute, wiggly little nose up at any of them. No other biking event attracts so many pros and amateurs for such a wide range of competitive activities, allowing one to participate in or watch road racing, downhill mountain bike slalom, and dirt jumping all in one day. (If anyone actually does a road race and hit the dirt jumps in the same day, Seattlest would love to hear about it. Extra bonus points if you use the same bike for both.)

Highlights will likely include taking bets on who hurls first on the 50-mile Mountain Bike Epic ride, high-speed carnage and mayhem in the multi-sport Professional Downhill Omnium, and counting back flips in the Dirt Jump contest. Temps in the high 60s in gorgeous Monterey, California only add to the temptation to pay the Otter a visit, and you'd better believe there’s a beer garden. You could cap the weekend off with a Sea Otter trifecta by visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium sea otters.

We’re not kidding with that Burning Man comment, either. While it is more family-friendly than said Nevada naked-fest, organizers are projecting over 60,000 people to pass through over the 4-day span (Burning Man 2004 coughed up a comparatively paltry attendance of 35,000 last year), making it a bike merchandiser’s dream gig. There’s even a couple getting married at the top of the Dual Slalom course (he proposed there last year, awwww). Along with picturing the bike-themed wedding décor, we can already hear the wedding vows now: “Do you swear to love, otter, and respect each other…”