This year’s Sea Otter Classic 2013 was as good as they come: Gorgeous warm sunshine, tons of riders of all ages, lots of racing excitement and vendors and spenders. We got to demo bikes to our heart’s content, talk with lots of bike folks, check out all the new equipment and ride the big loop.

What more could a bike fanatic ask?

Here’s the official race recap provided by Sea Otter, day by day. If you couldn’t make it to Monterey for this year’s fest, at least you can enjoy it vicariously here.

Congrats to Seattle homie Jill Kintner and U.S. standout Aaron Gwin on their big wins in the Downhill! Jill took double gold, also winning the dual slalom on Saturday.

Race results.

Full show rundown and schedule.

Shimano’s cycling sales continue to show improvement, up 20 percent over the first three quarters of the year. The Japanese retailing giant’s other divisions weren’t so successful, casting some doubt on any economic rebound. But at least the bike figures are promising.

The striking new film “Life Cycles” is starting the make the local premiere rounds after its world premiere at Interbike in Las Vegas in September. Here’s a nice perspective from Pinkbike on the film’s production.

And the trailer —

The first Outerbike, a kind of mega version of Interbike’s traditional Outdoor Demo pre-event in the Las Vegas desert, apparently went well.

Photo op: A bridge at Grand Ridge.

All the people riding had $3,000 bike at home and they left psyched to buy a $5,000 bike,” said Ashley Korenblat, owner of Western Spirit Cycling. “All the super high end brands just killed it. They were totally slammed.

On Issaquah’s Grand Ridge, the best close-in cross-country mountain biking trail to Seattle, the Washington Trails Association and King County Parks will dedicate the new Canyon Creek bridge on site at noon tomorrow.

In the case of a cheeseball tricycle capable of genitally lacerating tots, Toys Rn’t Us. The trikes have been recalled by Fisher-Price under the auspices of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Dangerous trike

High in the Methow...

Cascade and Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance are teaming up on the event, the local version of the International Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. There will be plenty of stuff to do, from riding and jumping to drawings for great gear. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. things will be popping!

As for high-country mountain biking, Winthrop will be the scene this weekend with its annual Methow Valley Bike (and now Film) Festival, highlighted by the premiere of “Pedal-Driven,” a film looking at Pacific Northwest trail use and conflicts and how they get resolved. The Winthrop Barn will be the focal point but lots of stuff going on, including rides, a bike giveaway, presentations and film showings. Be sure to stop and say hi to Joe Brown at Methow Cycle and Sport right on Highway 20 down from the Barn.

Spokespeople destination South Lake Union Park.

No matter where or what you ride, the weekend promises to offer lots of wheel time!

Help BikeJuju and the Village Bicycle Project load up bikes bound for Ghana tomorrow (Saturday).

We beg to disagree. James Bond wouldn’t ride this bike because he’d look like a goon.

When it comes to platform pedals, thin is in.

On Seattle’s First Hill, the cycle track would pay for itself.

In a time of belt-tightening, alternative transportation needs to be encouraged.

You can help support bike-friendly candidates at a Cascade Bicycle Club dinner Tuesday, Oct. 12.

The Red Bull Rampage, where Wade Simmons first showed the mainstream sports world what the thing called freeriding is all about and Tyler “Super T” Klassen pulled off one of the most memorable big drops ever, returns with live-Webcast finals on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The world road championships are Sunday as well, with newly crowned time trial champ Fabian Cancellara the man to watch.

Bike commuting is holding steady nationally despite job losses and lower gas prices. What we notice in Seattle is that it’s actually up, although statistical latency won’t confirm it for a couple of years.

The Race Across the Sky 2010 will debut Nov. 4. Tickets here.

Attendance at the big bike show Interbike was up 3 percent — nothing to crow about in the show’s final year in Las Vegas (remember, 2009 was a terrible year). It moves to Anaheim next year in early August.

The Bicycle Film Festival, in its 10th anniversary year, comes to Seattle next week (Oct. 7 through 10).

Crosscut revisits the Conlin Conundrum we explored a while back — how Seattle’s leading sustainability proponent counterintuitively supports Seattle’s biggest highway project.

How to prevent bike theft, from a bona fide bike thief.

Velotopia reports on the Bike MS ride this past weekend in Mount Vernon. We used to do the mountain bike MS ride and had a great time.

2001 MS Ride: Mountain bike racing greats John Loomis and Ned Overend

Affectionately known as SDOT, the Seattle Department of Transportation has backed off its proposal for a “road diet” on Admiral Way Southwest in West Seattle. SDOT seems to be changing its mind a lot these days — mostly for the better in our opinion. In many of the cases where SDOT dithers, it winds up improving the plan. But there’s also a “not quite perfect” aspect to its deliberations. More on this later, but for now SeattleLikesBikes deconstructs the Admiral Way situation.

It makes sense that if you steal a bike because you’re very poor and need a way to get around, the police give you one of those unclaimed bikes that every police station collects.

The electric bike is now available in a mountain-bike configuration. Good? Bad? Can’t decide, although as much time as we spend riding trails, it’s definitely not for us.

What do women mountain bikers think?

Fixing the Mercer Mess in Seattle will be good for bikes.

Boulder is one of America’s top bicycling communities. And it’s on fire.

You don’t have to have a retired police officer on your side to prove it’s OK to claim the lane on a bicycle, but it helps.

Of all the ways you can hurt yourself riding a mountain bike, this has to be the worst.

SeattleLikesBikes discusses how to fight the good fight on road diets.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coaliton asks, How much is doubling the number of bike lane miles worth to you?

Velotopia reports first-person from the RSVP.

Congrats to Rick Vosper, one of our favorite bloggers at Bike 2.0, who has taken over as director at Airborne Bicycles. We expect to be hearing more — a lot more — from Airborne, whom we lost track of as an affordable ti hardtail builder back in what, the ’90s? Best news is, Rick will continue with his blog.

As we suggested before Sound Transit light rail got going last year, bicycle use would far outstrip predictions. Now ST has decided to add 173 bike lockers and 25 racks over the next two years to accommodate demand.

In San Francisco we used to call bike lanes “double-park lanes.” Cars used them almost as much as bikes. That’s pretty much true everywhere. But Brookline MA has decided to try to put an end to it with a $50 fine. As they say in S.F., which has a $100 fine against bike-lane parking, Good luck with that!

In Los Angeles, where they don’t even have bike lanes, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held a first-ever bike summit after he was knocked off his bike and required 8 screws to patch together his right elbow. Good idea. LA cyclists were all over the mayor.

A New Hampshire guy wants to set the world hour record for a wheelie. Guess how far he plans to ride on that back wheel in an hour, then click here to see if you’re in the ballpark.

The story behind Floyd Landis’ $5 bike.

The story behind Precious, the fundraising cross-country bike with real-time Web connectivity.

Whistler Crankworx’s impact on the B.C. economy: More than 100,000 visitors, $10 million. Most notably, mountain biking at Whistler has eclipsed that other extreme Canadian sport, golf.

Meanwhile, Oakridge OR is banking on mountain biking for its own local stimulus package.

Early heads up: S.F. Bike Expo, one of our favorites, is returning to the Cow Palace Saturday, November 6th.

Congrats to Sheila Moon and her clothing line, moving from Oakland to Emeryville (IKEA-land) with a third more square footage. New address: 5900 Hollis Street, Unit T2. Check it out!