Outside: Ride On

Human ingenuity has done a lot of great things for transportation, but the fact remains: A bicycle is the most efficient way to transport a person, as far as energy per output. That does not change, but bikes themselves have changed. Maybe you remember a time when there were just regular old bikes. These days there are mountain bikes, road bikes and a relatively new category, gravel bikes. They’ve soared in popularity, perhaps because they most closely resemble the versatility of the just-a-bike days. Think of a road bike, but with a heavier frame and wider tires – it’s designed to get you around town, but also to ride terrain like dirt roads and moderate single-track trails. “It’s really a combination of mountain biking and road cycling, so you can go places easier, faster, better,” says Jeffery Frost, director of Athlete Services for Sea Otter Classic. Sea Otter Classic launched a gravel bike race in 2019. Frost designed a new gravel course for this year’s La Gravilla, that covers a range of terrain with 3,000 feet of climbing over 26 miles – plus some stretches of the famous Laguna Seca Raceway track for a bit of pavement. Like most Sea Otter events, this race is almost entirely amateurs. And this race might be the closest to the old days, when “they were just called bikes,” Frost says. [SR]

The La Gravilla race happens at 7:30am Sunday, April 10. Starts at Sea Otter Bridge and ends at Tire Bridge, at Laguna Seca. $80 entry fee. www.seaotterclassic.com