The Radavist

These days, I’m spending a lot of time riding and lugging around my DSLR. While I’d much rather do a ride with close friends and leave the camera at home, I couldn’t pass up yet another year of the Blackburn Ranger Camp. Last year’s ride / popsicle hammock experience was too good, so when Robin from Blackburn invited me along for a second time, I accepted the invitation without hesitation, only picking up on keywords: “camping, Big Basin, Redwoods, bourbon, BB guns, beach, Sea Otter, Niner bikes.”

The logistics of my past few weeks went something like this: Giro Grinduro shoot in Sierra Nevada, home for two days, back to Cali for Eroica, ride 130 miles on a 1982 7-speed crit bike, drive immediately to San Jose, arrive at airport hotel at 1am, work for 3 hours, sleep for 3 hours, cab it to the San Jose Airport, pack up my Niner RLT9 Steel cross bike with three day’s supplies, clear CF cards, and commence the herding of cats…

WARNING! This is going to make you HATE that today is Monday. 100 images await you…

The Long Haul with Humble Frameworks
Words and Photos by Kyle Kelley

A lot of people asked me why I was flying into Chicago for NAHBS this year when the show was another 5 hours away in Louisville, KY. Well… the answer was easy for me. I wanted to get the party started up north and keep it going all the way down south. There were friends to see, hot dogs and pizza to eat, bike shops to visit and dogs to be walked (my dog lives in Chicago). And last but not least I wanted to spend time driving down Interstate-65 through my home state of Indiana with Michael Catano from Humble Frameworks.

John Slawta is as much an artist as he is a frame builder. It’s rare to see any one of his custom bikes from the late 80’s or early 90’s with the same paint job. Sure, he went on stints where he developed paint themes, but each Land Shark frame was truly unique. It’s for this reason that I’ve often found myself on a Land Shark kick, where I’ll scour ebay or Craigslist, hopeful of finding a bike that would fit me.

That’s how David, a Stumptown employee, found this bike in particular. Truthfully, he actually scored two bikes when he replied to a Craigslist ad in Los Angeles. This one in particular just happened to fit him a bit better. Turns out, this was Harrison Ford’s son’s bike. Oh SoCal…

Not needing an actual cyclocross racing bike, David converted it to more of a commuter. Since it lacks fender mounts, he has clip-on fenders that he’ll swap on and off depending on the unpredictable Portland weather. Wide, uncut riser bars and a 1x drivetrain, thanks to a Wolf Tooth, give this bike a rally-like feel as he zips around town going to and from various Stumptown locations.

Dedacciai Zero tubes offer a unique silhouette, especially for a cyclocross bike. Check out the bi-oval, shaped, top tube’s flat profile for shouldering and the downtube’s diameter as it butts into the bottom bracket shell. A true custom selection for a bike that, at the time, was a ripping race machine. Hell, it would still roast a cyclocross course. For now, it’s pretty content as a commuter and David is stoked. Win/win if you ask me.

Down and Dirty in Santa Cruz
Photos by Ryan Wilson and Sean Talkington. Words by Sean Talkington

Ty, Ryan, Jackie and myself were recently invited up to Santa Cruz to meet with some of our fellow Instagram bike brethren (aka nerds). We were brought up to test out the new Roubaix Di2 disk outerspace/starwars bikes by Specialized. I was getting over a cold so Ty and I decided to carpool up a day later. We showed up a little late but arrived just in time to partake in what we hoped to be four straight days of great riding with or without torrential rainfall. Regardless of the forecast, we were optimistic. Each day was scheduled to be wetter than the previous, but the terrain was going to be so good that the weather wouldn’t be a factor.

Everything was pretty awesome. Things couldn’t be better! That is, until the start of day 3. That’s when it happened. When I got the feeling in my stomach. You know the feeling?! The feeling when your stomach drops, like REALLY “droooooooops” (30 minutes into the ride) and you start sweating profusely (even though its 51 degrees outside). Then you realize you’ve caught the stomach bug that has been going around the house (Rudy from The 5th Floor had it the day before and a European journalist before him).

I would now like for you to put yourself in my shoes for a minute (or better yet my bibs). You are now officially going to turn your insides out. The probability of you holding it in for more than a single minute is extremely low and while the rest of the group keeps on riding, you start to fall off the back. Then you realize you left your phone at the house because you didn’t want it to get wet. So you have absolutely no idea where you are or how to get back to the house and of course you don’t know the address/location where you are staying.

Southern California is a second home to me, for many reasons, the obvious of which being the excellent cycling and the people that live here. Life’s a bit easier when it’s always sunny and excellent riding is at your finger tips. Perhaps that’s why Ben from Argonaut has always liked the crew at Pedalers Fork in Calabasas. They’ve got world class roads and trails literally surrounding their unique restaurant, coffee and bike shop.

I can’t tell you how many times people attempt this business model, yet Pedalers Fork didn’t just attempt it, they nailed it. Excellent food, great coffee and high end bicycles. Pedalers Fork has created an environment that caters to the local cycling scene with group rides, fund raisers and parties. While their bike is small, they turn out many precision high end builds. Up until this point, they’ve sold only Moots. Not because of any exclusivity deal, but because they were looking for a carbon fiber match to the brand. That’s where Argonaut comes in.

A few weeks ago, Ben from Argonaut asked if I wanted to come out to Calabasas, ride bikes, eat great food and hang out with friends. All to celebrate this new union. Well, that and Ben would be giving a presentation of sorts about the brand to a few select people… and I’d shoot some photos.

We spent the morning riding bikes over the Santa Monica Mountains, with lunch at Pedalers Fork, an afternoon Putt n Pump track action at a secret location before attending a dinner, curated by Chris DiMinno of the Chris King Gourmet Century.

Rough day, huh?

Waking up to unfamiliar sounds, namely from animals, is highly underrated. Like an alarm clock going off full tilt, your brain processes new audio notes with a different intensity. Maybe that’s why I sprung from my bunk in our hut at 6am that morning. Scratching my head, semisomna, asking myself “what the hell was that?”

We’re too far south for it to be a Bunyip – the Australian Yeti – and too high in elevation for it to be a chicken. There it is again, now multiple times, surrounding the cabin. I grabbed my coffee kit and headed out to the porch to see what the commotion was all about. Immediately, I began to witness these wingless birds chasing each other around, making this unique call.

The Weka had welcomed us to the Old Ghost Road. A flightless bird, a bit bigger than a kiwi, diurnal, and very vocal. At a certain point, the need for coffee and a few sunrise photos overtook the interestingness of a damn bird.

Pardon the brief nature geek moment, we’re here to talk about bikes.

After settling in New Zealand, just outside of Nelson, we awoke to one of Mother Nature’s most memorable spectacles of the year in the form of a full-nuke sunrise. Skies were scorched, clouds were obliterated and as it began to mellow out, I put down my camera and began to grind my coffee beans in preparation for my morning ritual.

When I was first contacted for this media launch, I heard four words: Santa Cruz New Zealand. During what I call the slow and sleepy first of the year, news like this is exactly what I needed to kickstart my stoke for 2015. All I could think of were the sick trails that photographer Sven Martin had been sharing on his Instagram and what HouseMartin seems to be best known for: trekking into insane singletrack and ending rides at the beach.

Wet and Wild On Mt Lowe
Photos and words by Sean Talkington

There is indeed a stigma attached to Southern California’s weather.  Outsiders envision year round palm trees, 80’s style picturesque sunsets, flip-flop sandles, tank tops and oceans of suntan oil being slathered on daily.  For the most part that assumption is absolutely true.  We have it pretty good!  So good in fact that this place will make you soft.  Send me your toughest east coast transplant wearing his/her shorts in negative degree weather and put them in a LA’s treacherous “low 50’s” for a few years and I’ll send that person back to you in some Ugg Boots, “Juicy” sweatpants, Dior sunglasses, a fashionable parka and a tiny chihuahua that fits in a purse…because that’s how we do in this city!