The Brompton folding-bike race at Sea Otter Classic rocked. Here's how.

The concept is intriguing. The effort was engaging. The results were striking.

Meet the USA Brompton World Championship, the latest addition to the adored Sea Otter Classic, the biggest bike festival on the continent.

The race requires competitors, for this race ages 22-80-something, to sprint to their Brompton bikes.

Those bikes collapse and fold to fit in a space as small as the overhead compartment of an airplane.

Racers run to their vehicles, unfold/assemble them and head off on the Laguna Seca track for four hilly and eventful laps. 

It's the latest sexy addition the SOC organizers add annually to keep content and intrigue as fresh as spring asparagus (and similarly stinky after all the sweat is said and done).

“We are always excited to bring the Brompton World Championship to new locations and meet new fans, and it is great to be part of one of the biggest cycling events in the US with the Sea Otter Classic,” said Katharine Horsman, Brompton, general manager, North America. “The Mazda Laguna Seca is a raceway that is known for speed, and our contestants did not disappoint in that regard.”

Fans lined the start, thumping the fences and shaking cowbells, as a loud countdown took riders—all required to dress in suit jackets and ties, with no bike gear visible—to the launch. 

As the racers came back around as they completed their first lap, the runaway men's winner stopped, folded up his bike, reassembled it—as his three pursuers passed—and proceeded to pass them later on in lap two, and then win by a quarter-mile by the end of lap four.

At the winner's podium Peter Yaskauskas of New York revealed a three-part Brompton bike tattoo on his left bicep.

Whatever drama the men's field lacked in the materialized in the women's field, as the Weekly's own Karen Loutzenheiser, riding a bike she first mounted less than 48 hours earlier, reeled in the early leader.

"Loutz," whose name confounded announcers and whose resume includes a world championship as a sailor, was down by nearly a minute after lap one and a long search for her bike at the start.

By lap two she was within 30 seconds of the leader.

Lap three its was 10 or so seconds. 

On lap four, by the time she hit the intimidating hill that rises behind the start, she was pushing past the leader.

And pouring on the speed to the finish, wearing a skirt-suit that evoked a summer picnic tablespread, Loutzenheiser cruised to the finish, earning a free trip to London for the international final. 

Hot daym.

Her brother finished in the top flight of men, making them easily the most dominant siblings in the showdown. 

Here appear the 25 best lines from the lively announcers (to salute 25 years of Sea Otter Classic):

1. "Some of these men have respective jobs."

2. "Maybe tails weren't a good idea on a windy day."

3. "Ointment sponsors this chafing race."

4. "Is that a fanny pack?" "Actually it's a parachute."

5. "This is only his second time riding a bike."

6. "This racer is putting other competitors in therapy."

7. "Half these men will put theirs bikes on eBay tomorrow."

8. "This group of racers is known as the "Latte Aisle."

9. "She's from Rose Bowl parade and just never got out of uniform."

10. "Did he just downshift on a straightaway?!"

11. "[Leaving the race after first lap of four] #64 is first to Sierra Nevada beer tent."

12. "It's a scary thing to see people not able to get to the top of the hill. We should offer sherpa service."

13. "If you're not smiling, you're clearly not going fast enough."

14. "Good news is if you don't do all four laps, you can stop when the winner does."

15. "You buy the bike and you hide it from your wife."

16. "This guy's got the ZZ Top starter kit for a beard."

17. "Hey tighten up the suspenders let's hold it together, racer."

18. "This guy is chasing you down like a stalker in Manhattan, lady. You gotta keep it moving."

19. "He's gotta be thinking, 'This wool jacket is way to hot to be doing intervals.'"

20. "His legs are swelling like hot dogs in a crock pot."

21. "Our leader has $300 road shoes, which is troubling."

22. THis guy is is dressed like that and will go home and mow the grass."

23. "This racer is so good he's just disrespecting the competition. It's like a WWF move smacking the snot out of the competition

24. "It's always better to chase than be chased."

25. "What a comeback for Lootsoonhiser!"