The Road to Glory 

For the 55th time, the wild and wooly wheels of the Kinetic Grand Championship rolled through the Arcata Plaza, down the sandy dunes at Dead Man's Drop, into Humboldt Bay (and hopefully back to shore) and southward on the long trek to Ferndale. After three days of escalating challenges, roadside repairs and grueling pedaling, Trashlantis crossed the Main Street finish line to become this year's Grand Champion.

Theirs was not the only glory won, with the first-place awards for Engineering and Art going to Team Goddess and Glorious Gaggle, respectively. Sparky the Kinetic Foster Dog made the trip in nine hours and 24 minutes to win first place for Speed. And it seems only fitting the first-place award for Pageantry went to The Knights Who Say Bee.

Even the unlucky can gather glory, as in the case of the Golden Flipper Award for taking a spill in the sand, which went to Rat Rod. The seafaring version, the Golden Flippish, went, fittingly enough, to Grateful Squid. Throughout the colorful chaos, photographers Ollie Hancock and Mark McKenna were there to capture the highlights.