Hollister
– Three Hollister men have strapped on their helmets and pumped
up their tires to race a total of 245 miles in the annual four-day
Sea Otter Classic bicycle festival.
Hollister – Three Hollister men have strapped on their helmets and pumped up their tires to race a total of 245 miles in the annual four-day Sea Otter Classic bicycle festival.
The Sea Otter Classic, which runs Thursday through Sunday at the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey, is the largest cycling festival in North America. The festival features road, mountain and bike racing, as well as numerous other events and activities for bicycling enthusiasts.
Greg Bloom, 36, Jim Bonnet, 37, and Jonathan Sinclair, 32, will be participating in the Sea Otter Classic races. All three Hollister men are returners to the race, which is considered by many to be the kick-off event of the cycling season.
“It’s kind of the first big race of the year, so there’s just a really good vibe. Everyone there really likes biking,” Bloom said.
The festival, which was started in 1991, now draws nearly 20,000 racers of all skill levels and 50,000 spectators each year.
Bloom and Bonnet competed in the Levels 1,2 and 3 Masters Road Bike Race on Thursday. Sinclair will compete in the Level 3 Men’s Category Race at 8:30am Saturday and Bloom will compete in the Cross Country Mountain Biking Race at noon Sunday.
Both Bloom and Bonnet began biking competitively in college – more than 15 years ago for both of them.
“I moved to Southern California, and it was one of those deals where everyone was doing it, so I thought I should, too,” Bonnet said.
Bonnet said he was immediately drawn to the sport and the competition.
“I like the camaraderie at the races and the speed of it and the adrenaline rush,” Bonnet said. “I guess you have to like to suffer, too.”
Both Bonnet and Bloom started out with mountain bike racing, although only Bloom will be competing in a mountain biking race this year.
All three Hollister men compete in several bike races throughout the year, and train together to stay in shape. Bloom said this helps with motivation as well as safety, should something happen to their equipment.
On average, Bonnet, Bloom and Sinclair each bike around 250 miles a week, bicycling down Highway 25 to Pinnacles National Monument and back or or exploring other routes throughout the county.
Bloom said one of the reasons he switched from mountain biking to road biking was because of his move to Hollister seven years ago. San Benito County has excellent roads for bicycling, he said, but doesn’t offer a lot of good places to go mountain biking.
Bloom and Bonnet also noted that their training changed dramatically after having children. Both have two children younger than 10.
“I always joke that there should be another (racing) category for people with a family,” Bloom said. “The hardest part is not the amount of training; it’s trying to find time to rest.”
Bloom said most the time they will start biking at around 6am on Saturdays and Sundays so that he can spend the remainder of the weekend with his family.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
