The Radavist

Free Fun at Urbocross
Photos and words by Gideon Tsang

Cycling is usually fun, often not free and occasionally funny.

Racing a criterium is not free, usually fun and funny only when an armadillo crosses the road during the race. (True story and a problem isolated to racing in Texas.)

A deep tissue massage is not free or fun but funny as fuck when your Kiwi masseuse tells you farting stories. (Also a true story).

Bike camping is alarmingly fun and almost free. Insert naked cliff jumping and/or mushrooms for funny…

Urbocross is a free and fun four week cyclocross series on the urban trails of Austin, TX thrown by Beat the Clock Cycling Club and CycleEast bike shop. The series ended last week straddling the end of our road racing season and the beginning cross season.

2014 East Coast Messenger Stage Race
Words and photos by Chris Lee

It was a warm, sunny day in Washington, DC. Observe the scene at the most southern tip of Hains Point park and you’ll start to see a group of rag tag racers gather near an enormous matte black camper truck. As the racers arrive, they each greet each other with warm hand shakes or even the occasional hug. This is where this year’s East Coast Messenger Stage Race would begin…

We are Here to Win Fucking Races
Photos by Dylan VanWeelden, words by Kyle Von Hoetzendorff

Charlie and Alex arrive at a bar. They’re friends, they met through bike racing, they’re both good at it, they’re both tall. Charlie, usually big on words with questionable substance and unquestionable humor is noticeably quiet. Something is troubling him. Wit isn’t lacking in Alex however, he powers the conversation, something he has never had a problem with, throwing out easy jabs, blockable shots, lazy passes, hoping to get his friend into the game.

Alex knows they’re competitors, that, while he leaves himself open for body blows, Charlie, in his current state of discontent, is vulnerable and it would be easy to land a couple of devastating hits, but this isn’t where they compete, and that isn’t how you play the game. In their field time is the perpetrator, the villain.

The Road to the 2014 NACCC
Words and Photos by John Daniel Reiss

The Road to NACCCs was not paved in gold. It was mostly laid out with cheap beer and great friends. For the 2014 North American Cycle Courier Championship organizers in Minneapolis and Chicago concocted an elaborate plan that spanned several hundred miles and two weekends. Starting with the Cuttin’ Crew Classic, an annual race that celebrates the local hustle of the Chicago messenger, many out-of-towners showed up for a piece of the action. Still hanging on to summer, we were blessed by the cool water of Lake Michigan and soaked by afternoon showers. My compatriots at TCB Courier and myself found ourselves taking it all in, from the beautiful stone buildings to cutty alleys, the city was a great motivator the challenges ahead.

The 2014 Langtown “Cross Race”
Photos by Matt Irwin, words by Sean Talkington

What is Langtown? This is Langtown! This backyard venue was made famous when it used to facilitate motocross races in the late 90’s. If you like to party, then Langtown is easily Southern California’s best race.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to take part this year because of a stupid wedding (just kidding Jesse/Ariel and congratulations!) so I asked Matt Irwin to shoot “a few” images for the Team Dream Tumblr page. The gallery he created looked so fun and was larger then a Tumblr can facilatate so we thought it would be better suited here on The Radavist. Primarily because Matt’s images are awesome and realistically only my mother views the Team Dream site (I know this because I now have Google analytics).

Anyway, it’s a party. Or it’s a race. Actually, it’s both. It’s Langtown….
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The 2014 Trek CXC Cup Pro Women
Words and photos by Kevin Sparrow

With a heavy thunderstorm moving through overnight I was secretly hoping for some mud. Turns out, the sun made another appearance late in the day making for almost identical conditions as the Saturday races. The wind did seem to kick it up a notch however.
Some of the biggest names in Women’s Pro cyclocross were in town and I’d be damned if I’d miss shooting some of the best athletes in the world.

Katie Compton, Georgia Gould, Gabby Durrin, Meredith Miller, Caroline Mani were all favorites for Sunday’s race.

The first couple laps there was a lot of bottlenecking going on. A group started to form in the front all heavy hitters. After the third lap Compton found her way to the front and never looked back. Gould chased but couldn’t seem to reconnect with Compton. Caroline Mani put in another huge effort, this time ending up taking third place.
Damn good show.

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The 2014 Trek CXC Cup Day 01
Words and photos by Kevin Sparrow

It’s not too often we get cross weather like this in Wisconsin. The sky cleared up and dried the course for the pro race. Its always a treat to have big names show up for races here and they didn’t disappoint.

The course was on the Trek Factory grounds in Waterloo, Just 15 miles outside of our state’s capitol. Riders from Chicago and Minneapolis were thick in attendance.
The big names in attendance were Powers, Johnson, Driscoll, Mcdonald, and Berden just to name a few.

From the get go Jeremy Powers had a pulled away, looking strong through the race as Tim Johnson and Shawn Milne battled for second. Most of the spectating was done on a super steep down and up section that many fell victim too. Powers held his lead and went on to win day one of the event.

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This is it, the final day of Interbike. My shutter finger is sated for the time being, my feet are sore and It’s been a busy week. I think I’ve hit all the booths I wanted to, along with some requests… Vegas is rad and all, but I’m ready to roll on home to Texas. Thanks to everyone who hung out and chatted this week. It was a pleasure to meet you.

Enjoy the largest gallery to ever grace this site and again, feel free to ask any questions in the comments!

Here we go again. This morning’s hangover is acute, but I’m back at it. Interbike is almost impossible to cover as one person, so if you want to see something, holler at me, @JohnProlly or leave a note in the comments!

Cross Vegas is the official kick-off for American cyclocross season, in my opinion anyway. It’s raucous, rowdy and best of all, FUN! The highlight of the evening for me is the Wheelers and Dealers event where industry reps and shop peeps battle head to head for a place on the podium next to Craig Etheridge – who wins every year.

The crowd loves it. Everyone’s doing handups, toss ups, spraying beer, hecking and this year, like it does every year, it carried on well into the UCI race. This year’s event drew big names like Lars van der Haar and Sven Nys – maybe you’ve heard of them? At any rate, these pros had an introduction to the party time that is Cross Vegas and yes, things got out of hand.

Thanks to everyone who hung out and made the evening an enjoyable one!

Interbike. The necessary evil of the industry and the culmination of the year’s energy for me. 48 hours ago and we were in the Sequoias, now, we’re in the towering landscapes of Las Vegas, navigating the halls of the convention, seeing new and interesting products and longtime friends.

In an attempt to make my Interbike coverage as easy to digest as possible, I’ll be doing things a little different. Each day, I’ll upload around 80 photos, with the company’s name in the captions. If you have any questions, ask below and I’ll answer.

Keep in mind, these are products I like and do not necessarily represent everything to see at the show. If you’ve seen something elsewhere that’s worth sharing, holler at me on Twitter, Instagram (@JohnProlly) or in the comments!