The Radavist

Dogriver Super D
Words and photos by Kyle Von Hoetzendorff

I have my rituals you see, and they must be respected. Coffee, breakfast burritos, a Porta-John in that order, my body demands it, directs me. As long as I have been racing in the Pacific NW it has always been the same. I expect it, settles the nerves. Forget about going to bed early, having a protein shake, or sitting in a bath of ice cubes while there is perfectly good hot water pulsing just beyond the walls. Take the shower, have some pizza, stay up all night. I know who I want to beat and we were out drinking last night.

This is amateur racing in your 30s, this is beer at the starting line, long-range intimidation practices, strategic heckles, head games. Fitness at this stage isn’t just about VO2 Max or lactic thresholds, its about the rest of it, throwing life’s little chosen challenges into the mix, try whiskey soaked sleep deprivation giving you the shakes in the starting gate. Not that everything requires a debauched approach; it’s just that it also doesn’t, so why not?

Super D racing, like all types of racing, fits this program perfectly. In this particular case, the Mountain Man Challenge Dogriver Super D, the extended descent is punctuated mid race with a ball buster climb. This would be the  decisive section, whoever could make it through the climb the fastest with a modicum of energy in reserve would rule the day. Alex “KrunkShox” McGuiness would take first place in just over 22 minutes, followed closely by all-pro Matt Slaven and Team Robots very own “Chaz”  Sponsel. I would finish in just over 25 minutes, mid-pack, I would be tired, I would want sleep.

Take a survey and the vast majority of cyclists who haven’t spent a day descending don’t have any idea who strenuous it can be. It’s “cheating” they say as if descending is the unfortunate outcome of so many arduous minutes spent slowly suffering on the cranks while climbing the nearest crucible. In fact, as our frozen water cousins found out years ago, the descent presents its own unique challenge that once appreciated can be developed and refined. Time passes differently here, we don’t chat, life, outside life, must be put on hold, clear your schedule, erase the board, we are talking undivided attention. Your nerves not to mention your legs, butt, back, arms, neck, chest, and abs are constantly on high alert, think Gorbachev and Regan white knuckling their red phones. This race is after all an act that is antithetical to our biological imperative, you are challenging gravity, and gravity has, and will, ALWAYS win.

Why do it then? Take away the wolves, the lions, the tribal warfare and your left with an egregious surplus of need-to-survive.  Chemicals man, chemicals bend reason, chemicals create their own logic, and this is how I find myself hurtling down the side of a mountain, oxygen deprived, on the edge of control, in a race for no money and no fame. Chemicals.

I am not saying that this is better than that, than something, anything else. If you are reading this lovely site then you probably like bikes, and if you like bikes, have the time to like bikes, then your life is pretty good. Sometimes it’s nice to know that it’s good for someone else too. Its chemical man.

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The Messenger’s Guide To The City: Rooftops and Sandwiches with Cooper Ray
Words and photos by Chris Lee

Bicycle messengers have the unique opportunity to touch every single corner of their city. This often leads to discoveries once hidden in plain sight that most people, not even long time locals get to experience.

In the first installment of “The Messenger’s Guide To New York City”, I followed Cooper Ray, a young talented photographer and a full time bike messenger with a knack for finding his way up to rooftops and knowledge of the rich history of his hometown of Manhattan.

Cooper decided to show me some of his favorite rooftops that he managed to sneak up to over the years and two really important eateries that represents the history of New York City.

Lets start off with Eisenberg’s… What’s so very New York about this place and why is it so culturally relevant to this city?
Cooper: It’s one of the last few examples of a luncheonette in New York. Just a really good diner thats open really early in the morning and they always have breakfast specials and its one of the oldest.

It’s been open since 1929! I grew up in a photo studio on 21st between 5th and 6th avenue. I remember going to Eisenberg’s as a kid and drinking egg creams and having reuben sandwiches. You can just feel how well lived the space is, the flow of people. Its very relevant to the area. To think of every person thats gone through that space over the years. I’m just glad its there. Its not easily accessible to find a good affordable diner anymore.

You wanna add anything else to that?
Cooper: They got the best reuben… Go get a fuckin’ reuben at Eisenberg’s!

What is it about Ess-A-Bagel that makes it not only your favorite bagel spot but an accurate reflection of what an NY bagel should be?
Cooper: My first introduction to Ess-A-Bagel was on 1st avenue between 20th and 21st. Went to middle school around the corner. And we would always go to Ess-A-Bagel. We would leave our skateboards with the guys there… I even think I left my bike there once! The bagels are unparalleled. It’s perfectly crispy on the outside, its soft in the middle and they refuse to toast it. And they’re always hot. You don’t toast a bagel there.

They won’t let you toast their bagels! The New York water, you can make it a certain way: the classic Jewish bagel. You can get all sorts of different fish and spreads. It just doesn’t really compare to anywhere else. Ess-A-Bagel is a New York bagel, period.
*unfortunately during the time we conducted the interview Ess-A-Bagel was closed for Passover*

What is it about rooftops that means so much to you?
Cooper: For me it’s more than just going up to rooftops just to go. I’m not a graffiti artist. I don’t paint. I take photos. New York is unique in many senses, but from an architectural stand point because the density of tall buildings. Other cities will have a few tall buildings, maybe even the tallest in the world. But New York is the first metropolis.

I had an apartment maybe 300 feet above the ground and seeing everything look tiny on the ground: that was such a significant memory for me. To grow up with divorced parents and many different apartments and always sneak up to the roof of the building when I was a kid, and be so humbled with everything around me. It’ll be city for as far as you can see. I’ve developed a love for architecture and I taught myself about the development and redevelopment of the city.

What is it about New York that always draws you back other than the fact that you’re from here?
Cooper: That’s such a hard question to answer! It’s the energy of this place. The liveliness. The amount of everything. There’s everything of everything and there’s alway someone that can do it better than you. It’s humbling. I’m beginning to travel more. I recently traveled internationally and you can even see bits of that (other cities) here in New York. But nothing ever compares to Manhattan. But it all comes back to the fact that I grew up here. If I go somewhere else, I slip in to complacency. Its too slow, too quiet.

There’s no urgency to do better and to do more with yourself and to learn more. It’s a never ending learning experience. A city of so many millions of people, but all the subcultures and the people are intertwined and interconnected, more so than you can imagine. And I wholeheartedly believe if you go ahead with the spontaneity of the city, let it flow, and just pay attention. It just unfolds beautifully year after year. Its obviously gonna be difficult, but just the flow and energy that this city holds is unparalleled anywhere I’ve been to in the world. And its New York. Its New York City!

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Follow Chris on Instagram and Cooper on Instagram.

Everyone, in the history of friends who’ve been to Utah, particularly Moab, have said “broooo, you have to ride Porcupine” – which is followed by Enchilada – “ohhhh man, you gotta do Enchilada too!”

Let me just say that Utah is completely wild. It’s like a hipper Nevada. The word “Adventure” is literally everywhere you look – Adventure Raft Tours, Adventure Desert Guide, etc – I could have done a post on the vernacular of adventure x companies. Next time.

Back to Utah – I’ve been here once before.

Moab, however is a lot different than I expected. The trails are incredible and yes, Porcupine did indeed deliver. If you’ve ridden it, then you know. If you haven’t… broooo. The morning began with a quick cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito. Then came the sunblock lather, kit check and bag-stuffing. Snacks, water, tools, camera, check. In the interest of time, we shuttled to 7,000′ and ripped back to town.

Part of the SRAM Trail House media launch experience is getting to have some talented photographers shoot photos of you ripping down the mountains. To give you a point of reference: we stopped about every 10 minutes or so and went down the trail one by one. That results in a very long day – but for me, it just means I got to shoot my own photos in the downtime, some of which, I’m very stoked on.

Photographing MTB riding is pretty new for me, but I think this photoset captures what it’s like to ride in Moab, particularly Porcupine. At least in a pretty ok manner. What I’m saying is, I’m stoked on a lot of these, so don’t miss ’em!

A few months back, I expressed an interest in attending Frostbike to Jeff from All-City. Typically, it’s not really a huge media event, meant more for shop owners and brand reps. Wheels turned and viola, I found myself in freezing cold Minneapolis. While I had a few preconceptions about what I’d see, I was wildly impressed.

Frostbike is much smaller than I expected. It’s a QBP-specific tradeshow, only open to Q brands both in-house and distributed. In house brands include: Surly, Salsa, All-City, Whisky, Foundry, 45NRTH, Civia and others. Around 100 vendors total showed off products new and old.

Notable sights: iSSi, Q’s new in-house pedal brand – All-City‘s Macho Disk – Surly‘s new dropout designs – $250 fatbike tires by 45NRTH – the fatbike course outside QBP was a blast – the food was awesome – free beer! – Angry Catfish making coffee – Seeing friends, meeting and talking to readers!

Preface: it’s winter in the midwest and a lot of the new products were MTB and fatbike-related.

I don’t know what else to say. I had fun at Frostbike and hope to return next year. See some of the radness in the Gallery!

We all have “roll models”. You know, people who ride that we either know or don’t know but for some reason, we look up to them and aspire to one day tap into their radness. Maybe we follow them on Instagram, or witness their riding on a website…

Over the years I’ve gotten to spend some time getting to know Ty Hathaway, co-owner of Golden Saddle Cyclery. His past exploits include finishing the Tour Divide, being a general ripper on anything with two wheels and exploiting his spontaneity through planning (or not planning) some pretty incredible rides.

Last year Ty bought a Surly Pugsley and started riding the shit out of it. After doing a few small excursions, he called up one of his best friends, Moi Medina to go on a two day ride in Arizona. The story and Guest Gallery inclosed below is all from Ty directly, in his words…

Read on below for what I consider one of the raddest Guest Galleries ever to grace this site!

Portland’s Amanda Sundvor knows how to throw a party almost as much as she knows how to throw a race. Especially an outdoor race. In the middle of winter. In Portland! I think it’s amazing that people actually showed up, threw down $5 and raced around a freezing cold pump track and had a blast doing it. If anything, it’s a testament to how people just want to get rad year round. That’s a race party!

When I found out about the event (sorry I forgot to post the flier), I asked Brenton Salo to get out and shoot some photos. At this point, Brenton is like my Portland connection when it comes to events. If you see that man around town, buy him a coffee or a glass of whiskey!

Check out more from the Dirty Doubles Pumpish Track Race below!

If you were around in the mid-2000’s, rode a track bike on the streets and still have that frame, chances are, it might look like this. I love seeing friend’s zippy, fast, track-drop equipped bikes get swapped out for a spinny gear, risers and a Wald basket. When Matt wanted something more lively to ride to work each day, he bought his friend’s old Samson track bike and quickly made the transition to basket track.

Matt is co-owner at Flat Track Coffee, my local shop and every day he rides to work in Vans, with his made in the USA, Austin-based, Helm boots in the basket and a few bags of coffee for customers. This bike is always parked inside the shop and finally I got around to photographing it. Personally, I love this bike so much, as I’m sure Matt does.

See more in the Gallery!

The Swiss Alps. When those words first crossed over from my mouth and finally registered with my brain, all I could think was “can I really do this?” It wasn’t the physical challenge I was worried about, because like most people, riding like that is a mental game for me. Confidence yields zero constraints.

After hitting the mountains hard the few days leading up to our journey (don’t say adventure), I began to loosen up, but riding the Blur TRC didn’t fit in the confidence > constraints equation. I’ve always been more comfortable on a 29’r… Luckily, Rudy from Santa Cruz Switzerland hooked it up with an XL Tallboy LTC – now we’re talking.

We began our day with the most expensive cup of coffee I’ve ever had (Zurich is pricey), before heading out to the general vicinity of Klosters and eventually, Davos. This section of the Alps is steep, very rocky and very technical. Well, once you traverse the easy hiking trails and climb out of the valley up a 22% grade road. Yeah…

I went over the bars twice, which was to be expected and managed to double flat but surprisingly I made it out in one piece.

I’ll do my best to shift through the linguistic cassette in the Gallery, which, I might add, was one of the hardest to edit down in the history of the site. See for yourself why!

To visit Gene and the crew at One on One is to visit a mountain bike museum of sorts. Gene used to race for Bridgestone back in the 80’s. His many bikes line the walls and ceilings of this mecca for dirt heads in the midwest and beyond. But One on One is much more than a MTB specific shop, it’s a cultural hub in Minneapolis, an icon of urban cycling and for many, a local bike shop. Add in a coffee shop and cycling memorabilia to the mix and you’re bound to spend some time walking up and down the space over and over again.

I spent a lot of time at One on One talking to Gene and Cars are Coffins-founder Hurl. Those two guys are some of the most sincere pedal-philes I’ve met. If you live in Minneapolis and haven’t been by, you should! If you’re nice, maybe Gene will let you into the basement. Don’t worry, it’s not that creepy…

While I was there, I shot a few photos in the shop, check them out in the Gallery!