Camping at a big bike event
1. The Adventuremobile Parade
Our campsite was at Action Corner where all the traffic got routed to parking or camping or wherever.
Every morning over coffee and fried avocado bread prep we saw Sprinters of all kinds, including a vintage DHL van we cheered on as “Deutsche Postale” which isn’t a thing. A nice FJ80 but the details were over my head, a couple G-Wagens, a lifted Volvo 740 with Jeep Cherokee vibes, and an MGB GT (wait what?).
2. Your bike is your calling card
Walk around with the right bike and you’ll meet the right people. “Are you looking at the green bike or the red bike?” Green bike. “I’ll get my red bike off it so you can look at it.”
They are working on 1997 and 2007 26ers next. Boom!
3. Brompton World Championships 2026!!
Esteban brought a Brompton folding bicycle to have a “leave the Vanagon up here for Syncrofest and fly home” option.
Surprise! I learned the Brompton World Championships would be held at Sea Otter on the Laguna Seca race track on Sunday at 4pm with a Le Mans style start where the racers have to run 50 yards, unfold their folded Brompton, and then do two laps of the full race track.
Esteban demurred and said, “The rules require a blazer and I didn’t bring one. Do you know the reason Bentleys have the ignition on the left side?”
4. Santa Rosa was in full effect.
Daniel of Volo Coffee was the first person I saw on Thursday, and he let me know he was pulling shots for free in the Canyon booth. I had intended to bring his beans to show my friends how good Santa Rosa coffee can be, but missed the open shop by four minutes on my way out of town. Way easier just to start each day with a Cortado, and it got high marks from my snooty friends.
5.AMG Cyclery is lit
Evening ride out from Seaside through Monterey and a return to a taco truck and beer.
6. Swiss rules, Italian enforcement
Rules: Thou shalt not have stereos. No building a pump track. Only two cars per camp. No sleeping in the Wolf Hill parking lot.
Enforcement: Kids lapping the camp on motorcycles. A big dirt jump dug. Whole extra campsites appear. Gireworks. Cops show up, followed by more fireworks.
Not a single person checked a single document. I did have to lift up a folded piece of printer paper at one point, but the guard was already waving us through.
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