Under brilliant sunny skies, the 22nd annual Sea Otter Classic held at Laguna Seca Raceway is in full swing and thousands of cyclists and cycling enthusiasts are out watching races and milling about the myriad of expo booths.

Despite the predominance of mountain bike events, the Sea Otter still holds sway on the industry as it is doubles as the biggest public bike show in America. In fact, when we ran into Alessandro Colnago who traveled from Milano to the Northern California race site, he spoke to the importance of using the event as a way to spread the Colnago legacy to the "new cyclists".

Here is part one of our coverage with much, much more to come.